Conflicts

An article on the MinnPost site this week brought to my attention a report done by the Minneapolis Ethical Practices Board (EPB) on conflicts of interest involving development-related boards (planning, zoning, preservation) in Minneapolis and in other cities (a copy of the report is attached; see below). The report provides some valuable information.

“These are, as far as I’m concerned, the everyday things and courtesies that are done in life.”

—Andrew P. O'Rourke, then Westchester County (NY) Executive, after admitting that he had sought a job for his son-in-law (and an admission interview for his daughter) at a medical college that had a contract with the county; had recommended his domestic partner for a job with the county's medical insurer; and had "looked the other way" when his daughter was hired by the county's...

It's been six years since I last wrote about local government ethics in Tennessee. In a January 2007 comment to the forum on recusal, I focused on the fact that the University of Tennessee's Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) (which operates in cooperation with the Tennessee Municipal League) had prepared...

In a blog post two weeks ago, I welcomed an excellent, although sketchy, set of recommendations by a national law firm that amounted to a recommendation for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to set up a full-fledged ethics program.

According to...

The death of Robert Bork is a good time to learn from the biggest mistake in his life, one that may have cost him a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. It involved his failure to deal responsibly with a superior's conflict of interest, and his own, since his superior forced his conflict situation onto Bork himself.

Canadian mayors don't appear to be having a good time of it lately, ethicswise. Montreal's mayor resigned, Toronto's mayor was dismissed by a judge, and now it looks like the conflict situations of Winnipeg's mayor will be his downfall if he runs for a fourth term, according to...