City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

January 14, 2011

A Look at a Proposed Ethics Code for Glen Ellyn, IL

You can learn something from every local government ethics code there is, and especially from codes that have only been proposed. Today I'm going to look at a proposed ethics code for Glen Ellyn, IL, a western suburb of Chicago (pop. 27,000). The proposed code and resolution are attached; see below.

Aspirational Policies

Transparency & Disclosure January 13, 2011

Free Speech and Open Meeting Laws

Are Americans turning First Amendment free speech into a fetish?

Local Government Practice January 12, 2011

Hatch Act Problems and a Solution

I've written before about some of the problems relating to the Hatch Act's prohibition of local government employees running for office if their agency gets any funding from the federal government (1 2). Jason C.

Ethics Commissions & Administration January 11, 2011

Regional Ethics Commissions via Interlocal Cooperation Agreements

On today's Palm Beach County (FL) Board of Commissioners agenda is approval of an Interlocal Agreement with the city of Lake Worth. The agreement is one of many that will be entered into between cities and towns in the county to give the county ethics commission jurisdiction over the municipalities' ethics training, advice, disclosure, and enforcement. The agreement is attached; see below.

Local Government Practice January 11, 2011

Trust and the Us-Them Mentality

Oxytocin is a hormone released by the hypothalamus portion of the brain which, among other things, makes people trust each other more. In other words, one could argue that local government ethics seeks to increase the release of oxytocin in the brains of people when they think about their local government.

January 10, 2011

The Carrigan Free Speech Case Goes to the Supreme Court - The Parties' Briefs

This second blog post on the briefs filed concerning whether the Carrigan case should be accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court glances at arguments in the briefs filed by the two parties and then makes a different argument for why the First Amendment has no place in this sort of government ethics matter. Making this argument gets to the root of how the Constitution, and government ethics, protect the public. If only the courts would let the Constitution and government ethics work together, as they should, instead of placing them at loggerheads.

January 8, 2011

The Carrigan Free Speech Case Goes to the Supreme Court - The Florida Amicus Brief

Note: I made a few important changes to this blog post on January 10, in conjunction with the posting of my analysis of the parties' briefs in this case.

Conflicts of Interest January 7, 2011

Local Government Employees Sitting on Councils

An editorial in yesterday's Star Press of east central Indiana calls for passage of a state law to prevent municipal employees from sitting on a body that oversees their department or agency's budget. The focus is primarily on preventing city and county workers from sitting on city and county councils.

Local Government Practice January 6, 2011

Putting a Stop to Going Along

It not only takes a number of officials to allow unethical conduct to occur, it also takes a number of officials to undermine the effect of a good ethics program. An ugly example occurred recently in North Providence, Rhode Island, a city where three former council members are awaiting trial for charges of extortion and bribery.

Conflicts of Interest January 5, 2011

Vendor Codes of Conduct Sound Better Than They Are

Local government vendor or supplier codes of conduct are not commonly found in the U.S. In a limited search, I couldn't find one. But corporations commonly have them, as do some Canadian cities and some states and state agencies. And they sound like a good idea.

The reason I raise this idea is that Cuyahoga County's new county executive says he will have one drafted (see my most recent blog post). What can we expect from such a code of conduct?

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