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A Couple of Good Local Government Approaches to Transparency and Citizen Feedback

Monday, June 30th, 2008
Robert Wechsler
The Internet provides all sorts of opportunities for both transparency and citizen feedback. One way, which I pointed out recently, is for local government officials to have blogs that allow them to present their news and views, and allow citizens to respond and ask questions.

Two other approaches have just been taken by towns near where I live.

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Favoring Friends and Family Catches Up to Baltimore's Mayor

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Robert Wechsler
Two years after allegations made by the Baltimore Sun, two years after state prosecutors began an investigation, a year and a half after being appointed mayor (after being city council president), and six months after being elected mayor, Baltimore's Sheila Dixon's alleged favoring of friends and family has been brought before a grand jury, according to an...

Starving Ethics Commissions of Resources - The Situation in Oklahoma

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Robert Wechsler
Money is not only the root of much of the evil in government ethics, it is also the lifeblood of government ethics. Without money, ethics commissions, at least in cities and states, as opposed to towns, cannot do their job.

Do something the legislative body doesn't like and it has a good way to get back at you: cut off your funds or fail to fund your new obligations. At budget time, government ethics commissions, no matter how independent, often become just another political...

Superior Handling of a Conflict Matter

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
Robert Wechsler
Too many of my blog entries look at instances where things did not go right. One reason is that when things do go right, no one talks about them. Another reason is that so often ethics problems are not handled very well.

So it's nice to read about the proper handling of a conflict situation in Superior, Wisconsin. I suppose when you live in a town with this name, your aspirations are greater than most cities'.

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The Special Responsibilities of Prosecutors -- and Other Local Government Attorneys

Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Robert Wechsler

An article on the front page of today's New York Times presents us with an opportunity to focus on the special ethical responsibilities of prosecutors, and other local government attorneys.

An assistant district attorney in Manhattan, Daniel Bibb, was asked to reinvestigate a murder where the conviction of two men was put into question by new evidence. Bibb came to believe that the two...

Acknowledging Ethics Violations in Settlements

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
Robert Wechsler

Should an agreement between an ethics commission and a respondent, which ends an ethics proceeding, include an acknowledgment by the respondent that he violated the ethics law?

According to an article in yesterday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee thinks not. The Arkansas Ethics Commission director disagrees.

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