Advisory Opinions

A couple of months ago, the Ohio Ethics Commission did something very wise and valuable:  it drafted an advisory opinion on nepotism rules, gathering information from years of partial, specific advisory opinions, and providing examples. It even gives excellent definitions of each of the relevant te…

On Independence Day weekend, it's worth remembering that independence does not come cheap, and that there are some things that are more important than independence. One of those things is the public trust. There is a serious cost to our society when government officials place their independence fro…

Again and again, local government officials say that there is no need for an improved ethics program in their town because no one is filing complaints. If there were ethical problems, they argue, there would be lots of complaints. But complaints are not an indication of the need for a better govern…

One of the most difficult things for a government official to do is to determine whether his or her conduct creates an appearance of impropriety. Partially blinded by ego, surrounding yes-people, and the government's ethical culture, an official often finds nothing wrong with conduct that many or e…

The New York City Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) recently issued an advisory opinion (attached, see below) on the subject of conflicts involving city council discretionary funds, a topic I wrote about last year. This is a model advisory opinion, especially in the way it provides a number of sce…