City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Conflicts of Interest June 13, 2011

The Supreme Court's Local Government Recusal Decision Is Limited to Voting and Legislative Debate

The Supreme Court reached a decision today in the Carrigan case, and it is nearly unanimous. However, it deals with only one part of the arguments made by Carrigan (see my blog post on the oral argument): whether a local legislative vote is protected speech under the First Amendment.

Ethics Commissions & Administration June 13, 2011

EC Selection: Nonpartisanship and Independence

Last week, Wisconsin taught us the lesson that even when you go to great lengths to ensure a nonpartisan, independent ethics body, there will be politicians who accuse it of being partisan when it makes decisions against their interests. The good thing is that, when the body is truly nonpartisan and independent, these politicians look ridiculous. But often there is a serious confusion among nonpartisanship, bipartisanship, and independence with respect to the selection of ethics body members. It is important to understand the distinctions among them.

June 12, 2011

Citizens' Views of Ethics Reform in Jacksonville

I don't write about Jacksonville much, because my colleague at City Ethics, Carla Miller, is the city's ethics officer. She has been working hard to ensure that the city's ethics commission is given more authority and independence, and that the city's ethics laws are improved. This week, the council will be moving closer to approving, or undermining, reforms.

Ethics Commissions & Administration June 10, 2011

Guaranteeing an Ethics Commission's Budget

The dream of every ethics commission is to have a guaranteed budget. But it is not really a dream for two reasons. One, there are ethics commissions with guaranteed budgets. And two, it is a reasonable policy that can be countered only by a local legislative body's need for control. This blog post will look at the arguments for and against a guaranteed budget, as well as several examples of and approaches to guaranteeing budgets for ethics commissions and similar independent bodies and agencies.

The Arguments For and Against

Enforcement & Complaints June 8, 2011

Stall and Attack Offensives in Ethics Proceedings

It's important for ethics commissions to be prepared for the occasional official who, along with his or her attorney, will do anything to stop or at least delay its investigation, including attacks on the EC itself. A good example of how relentless an official can be is John J. O'Connor, now former head of the SUNY Research Foundation, whom I wrote about in a recent blog post.

Local Government Practice June 7, 2011

Power Deviant Behaviors

With the "big news" this week being the sexting of Rep. Anthony Weiner, it seems appropriate to write about a piece I came across on the i-sight.com website entitled "Do All Workplace Fraud Investigations Lead to Porn?" The piece discusses the ideas of Ryan Hubbs, a forensic accountant.

Conflicts of Interest June 7, 2011

A Good Example of Problems That Can Arise from Privatization

It's nice when something you write about in a blog shows up on the front page of the New York Times the following day. Yesterday, in a post called "Privatization and Transparency," I discussed new types of privatization involving nonprofits, which raise new sorts of problems. One type of nonprofit operates government-funded facilities or programs, such as schools. These nonprofits are sometimes a way for organizers to make money by selling property or services to the schools.

Transparency & Disclosure June 6, 2011

Privatization and Transparency

I've written a little about ethics issues involving quasi-governmental entities and private entities doing government work (oversight, misuse, and personal financial disclosure). But there are many other issues that arise, and become problematic, when public work is done by private entities.

June 4, 2011

A Classic Example of a Closed Fiefdom

A report on the relationship between New York's state university system (SUNY) and the SUNY Research Foundation (RF) was published yesterday.

June 3, 2011

Slapping Down a Council Colleague with a Self-Regulated Ethics Program

It's hard to know where to start with a situation in Crescent City, CA, a town of 7,500 in northern California that has already been the subject of a City Ethics blog post.

One of the most striking things about the situation is that it is the first time I have seen an anti-SLAPP-suit defense used successfully against someone who appears to have been found guilty of an ethics violation in order to stop her criticism of council actions (that is, by SLAPPers against someone they themselves SLAPPed).

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