City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Conflicts of Interest February 16, 2011

The Ethical Responsibility of a Local Party Committee

Local party committees have a great deal of power. Most of the people we vote for have been selected and, where allowed by law, endorsed by local party committees. Most of the people who are appointed to boards and commmissions have also been approved by local party committees. In most places, they…

Local Government Practice February 15, 2011

Public Servants and Free Speech

It is worth noting that the respondent member of the Stamford board of finance in the matter covered in the preceding blog post raised both a legislative immunity and a First Amendment free speech defense in his federal court complaint unsuccessfully seeking an injunction against his ethics proceed…

February 14, 2011

Not Withdrawing As a Responsible Way to Deal with a Conflict in Stamford, CT

There are times when withdrawing from a vote is in fact not a responsible act, but rather an act in one's own self-interest. In such a case, a responsible official should participate and do what is in the public interest. According to an article in Saturday's Stamford (CT) Advocate, one such instan…

Conflicts of Interest February 13, 2011

Is It Right to Prohibit Conflicts?

According to an article in Friday's San Bernardino Sun, a San Bernardino city council member accused of a conflict of interest resigned. He owned a towing company whose major source of income is a contract with the city. The contract was made before he joined the council. According to an article Sa…

Resources & Learning February 12, 2011

Zygmunt Bauman on Responsibility, Trust, Self-Deception, and More

Despite the title of his essay "What Chance of Ethics in the Globalized World of Consumers?" Zygmunt Bauman has some valuable things to say that are relevant to government ethics (the essay appears in his 2009 book, Does Ethics Have a Chance in a World of Consumers? (Harvard University Press)). The…

February 11, 2011

Allegations Against Miami-Dade County's Ethics Director

There are people who get great satisfaction going after the ethics of government ethics professionals. Rarely are their accusations relevant to government ethics; it's just about showing that we're not good people, either, as if government ethics was just about good and bad. Maybe we should wear t-…

February 10, 2011

Vernon, the Dragons, and the Knights

Yes, boys and girls, it's time for another episode of every government ethics lover's favorite tale, Vernon and the Dragons. In the last episode, back in November, the dragon known as Los Angeles County was considering a proposal to require the city of Vernon to competitively bid housing for the ci…

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play February 9, 2011

Managing Risk and Tracking Unethical Companies

Local governments cannot afford to do the level of due diligence that corporate compliance offices do on a regular basis. But it is worth looking at how corporate compliance offices and corporate executives deal with other entities that are found to be involved in unethical activities. A report jus…

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play February 8, 2011

Applying a Pay-to-Play Ordinance in Trenton

Update: February 10, 2011 (see below) Trenton's city attorney and mayor have been going through an elaborate dance in the last week, since the city attorney decided to void a contract between the city and a law firm that made a large contribution to a PAC that supported the new mayor's candidacy. T…

February 7, 2011

Officials' Inaction and Anger

Usually, in government ethics situations, local officials can get away with doing nothing, especially when the conflict isn't theirs. Few ethics codes have provisions prohibiting complicity in and requiring the reporting of others' ethics violations (see the City Ethics Model Code's provision for a…

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