making local government more ethical

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Robert Wechsler
An article in today's Modesto Bee provides an excellent example of problems that arise when a city's redevelopment is accomplished by people who can benefit directly from it.

The five-person Riverbank, California Council has three members who own property downtown, which is going through a redevelopment phase (apparently, things like theaters, not low-cost housing).  The council members also sit on the...
Robert Wechsler
When should governments provide counsel for officials who have had an ethics complaint brought against them? This has become a big issue recently in my state, Connecticut.

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Robert Wechsler
This Sunday New York Times' front-page feature on how doctors are recognizing the value (ethical and financial) of apologizing provides a good opportunity to bring up again what I consider to be one of the most important topics in local government ethics.

I wrote about apology in local government in July 2006, and then in March 2007 followed it up with...
Robert Wechsler
Actuary Jonathan Schwartz has received no funds from City Ethics. But it may seem like that from how perfectly today's front-page New York Times article follows up on the blog entry I posted yesterday.

In yesterday's blog entry, I argued that governments and public sector unions do not have the same right as businesses and ordinary unions to put information in a light that helps their cause. ...
Robert Wechsler
The city of Vallejo, California (pop. 117,000) is about to file for bankruptcy, primarily, it appears, to allow it to void union contracts and have a bankruptcy judge rather than negotiations work out a new contract. Sajan George, an adviser to struggling public entities, has said, "There's a wave of this coming across the U.S. What happens in Vallejo could definitely set a...
Robert Wechsler
How a big-city police chief responds to his commission of an ethics violation is more important than the violation itself. The worst thing he can do is act as if he is above the law, as if ethics laws, not to mention ethics considerations, do not apply to him.

Sadly, Miami's police chief, John Timoney, has done the wrong thing almost every time he had the opportunity.

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