City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play November 5, 2011

Lessig on the Effects of Elected Officials' Dependency Problem

Lawrence Lessig's excellent new book Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It (Twelve, Oct. 5, 2011) is about Congress and mostly about campaign finance, but it is also an important look at institutional corruption that has some valuable things to say that are relevant to local government ethics.

Ethics Commissions & Administration November 1, 2011

Lobbying An Ethics Commission Should Be Lobbying

Can a local ethics commission be lobbied? It's conceivable, especially with respect to recommendations for ethics reform. It is important for an ethics commission to have an ethics code provision or regulation that prohibits ex parte communications relating to any proceeding. But with respect to ethics reform recommendations, the public's input is important, and there would seem to be no reason why a registered lobbyist shouldn't be able to put in her two cents.

Resources & Learning October 14, 2011

The Lucifer Effect IV — Miscellaneous Observations

This fourth blog post on Philip Zimbardo's book The Lucifer Effect is a miscellany of various ideas in the book that have relevance to local government ethics.

An Ethics Commission With Lips

Resources & Learning October 13, 2011

The Lucifer Effect III — Debriefing and Other Ways to Deal with Situational Forces

This third blog post on Philip Zimbardo's book The Lucifer Effect looks at some ways to deal with situational forces.

Recognizing Our Limitations

Resources & Learning October 12, 2011

The Lucifer Effect II — Situational Forces

This second blog post on Philip Zimbardo's book The Lucifer Effect applies the situational approach to government ethics programs, and looks at the situational forces at play with respect to ethical misconduct.

The Situational Approach

Resources & Learning October 12, 2011

The Lucifer Effect I — A Situational Approach to Local Government Ethics

A year and a half ago, I wrote a blog post about a 2007 book by Philip Zimbardo, entitled The Lucifer Effect.

Conflicts of Interest October 4, 2011

Helping Contractors Rather Than the Public

One thing jumped out at me from an article on the front page of the New York Times today that deals with a common government ethics situation. The situation involves a lobbyist hired because he had a close personal and professional relationship with the head of a department that had to approve his client's project.

Ethics Commissions & Administration October 3, 2011

Carrigan and an Obligation to Seek Ethics Advice

Yet another brief has been filed in the Carrigan v. Commission on Ethics of the State of Nevada case, this time the EC's supplemental brief on remand to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Transparency & Disclosure September 28, 2011

Preserving Records and Setting Up Responsible Gift Procedures

What can be done when a public agency that gives gifts to public officials destroys its gift records?

September 21, 2011

A Miscellany

Legal Disciplinary Proceeding as Ethics Enforcement Forum
Occasionally, government ethics enforcement spills out from ethics and criminal proceedings into other types of proceeding. Since Maricopa County's officials have managed to turn ethics and criminal enforcement into a form of internecine warfare, the state's lawyer disciplinary program has gotten into the action.

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