County Related

Every time I check up on Jackson County, MO, I find something more
that's shameful, if that word can be used anymore. This time a blog
sent me to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU7v94chDeM&quot; target="”_blank”">a You
Tube video of the county legislature</a> passing the new ethics

Two months ago, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/608&quot; target="”_blank”">a
blog entry </a>about the en masse resignation of the Jackson County
(MO) ethics commission, and said that this was a sign that things were
seriously wrong in that county. Little did I know.<br>
<br>

The ethics provision that is probably most consistently violated is the
one about political activity in city or county hall.<br>
<br>

One argument rarely made for effective government ethics programs is
that they will prevent government officials from being prosecuted for
"honest services fraud."<br>
<br>

<p class="MsoNormal">Should an option in a light-rail train car manufacturing
contract be exercised, rather than going to a competitive bid, because the
company says it will move its plant, and 5,000 jobs, into the county?</p>

<p class="MsoNormal">This dilemma is being faced by the Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), and the recession and the stimulus
package are both involved. So is an accusation of conflict of interest.</p>

I hate to harp so often on the problem of ethics matters being handled
by criminal authorities, but when I read <a href="http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2008/11/28/news/doc4930183…; target="”_blank”">an
article</a> in the Nogales (AZ) <span>International</span>
that begins as follows, I get angry.<ul>
While there was “ample evidence of

Self-promotion is the ultimate form of placing one's own interests over
the public interest, but we expect it from politicians. It's an ego
thing. It has no place in an ethics code.<br>
<br>
But the four-term-plus sheriff of Maricopa County,
AZ (which includes Phoenix and Scottsdale) has turned self-promotion into an extreme sport.<br>

<p><i>In this article published in the Orlando Sentinel, the "Consultant" referred to was <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/CarlaMiller">Carla Miller</a>, of CityEthics, in a workshop presented in the spring of 2007.</i></p>
<p>From: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/views/orl-ethics1707dec17,0…;

<b>'It doesn't serve the people to have an ethics commission responsible to the body of government it reviews. It's counterintuitive.'</b>

'Anonymous comment to <a href="http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2007/03/hallelujah-ethics-commission-wan… Eye on Miami blog entry</a> about the desire of the Miami-Dade County Ethics Commission to strengthen its powers and responsibilities

On November 15, 2006, David Damron of the <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-lamar1506nov15,0,3621262.story">Orla… Sentinel reported on Lawson Lamar</a>, the local state attorney's call for "sweeping new ethics laws he said would limit the influence of developers and other special interests on city and county governments. In a Nov.