January 28, 2012

An Attempt to Get Rid of New Ethics Provisions in Three Broward County Cities

In November 2010, Broward County, FL voters approved an ethics code for officials of the cities in the county (the code also applies to the county commissioners). The code finally became effective January 2, 2012.

Transparency & Disclosure January 27, 2012

The Limits of Disclosure

Elisabeth Rosenthal wrote an excellent op-ed piece for the New York Times last Sunday. It was about disclosure, more specifically about the way disclosure sometimes neither leads to more transparency, nor prevents what it is intended to prevent. In the government ethics situation, that would mean preventing misconduct.

Ethics Codes & Reform January 25, 2012

The Institutional Corruption Behind Police Abuse of Immigrants

It's not every day that a neighboring town makes the front page of the New York Times. It's especially surprising when the reason is, at heart, a local government ethics problem.

Ethics Codes & Reform January 23, 2012

ELEPHANTS, ETHICS AND ENIGMAS

The Blind Men and the Elephant is an ancient Hindu fable that illustrates the tendency for a person to think that he has grasped the whole of a situation when, in fact, only a part of it is understood. This will be shown to be the case with government ethics programs based on a study of twelve municipalities of varying populations in the United States. It is a global concern that, as a result of inefficient, wasteful and corrupt dissipation of limited resources, services are diminished and the public trust lowered.

Ethics Commissions & Administration January 21, 2012

The Joke at the Heart of Local Government Ethics Programs

Stephen Colbert has been doing a great job satirizing the current federal campaign finance situation. He has especially made a mockery of the Super PAC, a means of allowing individuals and entities to make unlimited contributions to a candidate's campaign under the guise of independent expenditures. Colbert has shown how weak the rules on collaboration are, how the Super PAC is effectively, if not constitutionally, no different than a campaign committee.

Conflicts of Interest January 18, 2012

The Ethics of Vote Trading

As I near the end of writing my local government ethics book, I am going over local government ethics codes looking for unusual, but valuable provisions to include in a special section that follows my discussion of the run-of-the-mill provisions.

I would like to share one of these provisions that is truly worth thinking about. It appears in the Windsor, CO ethics code:

January 17, 2012

Jacksonville.com - above the fold...

What’s missing from new Jacksonville ethics office? Money

No budget or staff yet, despite being adopted by City Council last summer.

Posted: January 17, 2012

Seven months after it was signed into law, Jacksonville’s Office of Ethics, Compliance and Oversight still has no budget. Its one employee, a director appointed last month, works part-time but hasn’t drawn a city paycheck since leaving an earlier job in October.

Local Government Practice January 10, 2012

Misuse of Official Commendations

Local governments often give special recognition to individuals and organizations. It's part of promoting the good works that are being done in the community. But it is also, of course, a form of preferential treatment. For every individual and organization that is recognized for good works, there are many others that are not recognized.

Conflicts of Interest January 3, 2012

How to Plow Through the Appearance of Favoritism

One of the most damaging kinds of preferential treatment is one that is hard to pin on any one individual: public works work done for some, but not for others, or done for some before being done for others. Whether or not this is done in any particular city or county, people talk about it, speculating that it is done, talking about things they've seen and heard. It's an important part of the perception that local government is run for those in government and those with political connections, and that the "important" areas of town (i.e., where the wealthy and powerful live) are favored.

December 24, 2011

Applause (and Some Criticism) for the New D.C. Ethics Bill

An ethics bill in the District of Columbia, sponsored by council member Muriel Bowser, went quickly through committee and was passed by the council, with only one dissenting vote, on December 20 (the final committee bill can be found here). What's amazing about it is that, despite the speed with which it moved, Bowser's staff made many improvements to the bill in response to critiques from me and others.

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