County Related

Can grades be evidence of a conflict of interest? This is what the Cook
County prosecutor's office is effectively arguing, according to <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-alvarez-first-yearoct20,0,393695…
article in the Chicago <i>Tribune</i></a>. <br>
<br>
Northwestern University journalism students spent three years
researching a criminal case, in which they believe that a man was

<a href="http://www.globalethics.org/">Global Ethics</a>, an
organization run by Rushworth Kidder, author of <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/259"><span>Moral Courage</span></a> and other books,

In your county, a major corruption investigation is being conducted by
the FBI. Already, nearly twenty county employees, city building
inspectors, and businessmen have pleaded guilty (see an earlier <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/763"><b>blog post</b></a> on the
investigation). Others are holding out. What do you do?<br>
<br>
The usual answer is to create an effective ethics program. In Cuyahoga

Here's an ugly little case study, based on an ethics complaint filed in
September in Hillborough County, the county which includes Tampa.
According to the complaint (attached; see below), the county
administrator wanted to give herself and the county attorney a 1%
salary increase. Salary increases in the county must be approved by the
Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). The county administrator asked
the county attorney if the raises would be legal without such approval,

A week ago I wrote a <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/preferential-treatment-fairness-and-p…; target="”_blank”"><b>blog
post</b></a> about preferential treatment, emphasizing
that the way to distinguish preferential treatment from ordinary
decisions and transactions,
where someone is commonly preferred over others, is by whether the treatment
is fair and

One of the more interesting battles in the civil war among Maricopa
County elected officials is the Battle of the Civil Division. When the
county attorney indicted County Supervisor Don Stapley in December
2008, the board of supervisors decided to take away the county
attorney's civil division and create a separate county civil law
department.<br>
<br>

A central dispute in the first group of charges brought against
Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley involved whether he was required
to disclose properties held by a company he owned, as long as he listed
the company among his assets. Stapley felt this was not required.<br>
<br>

Both times Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley has had criminal
charges brought against him, the counts included perjury charges for
omissions on disclosure forms (<a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2008/12/sheriff_joe_arpaio…; target="”_blank”"><b>2008

<b>Update:</b> 9/30/09<br>
I was asked to do a short interview on Phoenix's NPR station KJZZ
yesterday, to provide a government ethics view on issues relating to the latest battle in
the uncivil war among elected officials in Maricopa County, the county
that includes Phoenix. My research into what is going on raised all
sorts of interesting issues. I'll deal with them in multiple blog posts.<br>
<br>
First, what happened. County Sheriff Joe Arpaio arrested County

The business coalition in Palm Beach County (FL) really gets it. One
reason is that City Ethics' Carla Miller has provided advice. The
coalition consists of Leadership Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach
County Business Forum, the Palm Beach County Economic Council, and the
Voters Coalition. Its positions are best stated in <a href="http://www.lwvpbc.org/LWV_article.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">a short essay</a>