City Related | City Ethics

Ethics Codes & Reform November 19, 2012

Second Round of Chicago Ethics Reforms III - Independence and Confidentiality

Ethics program independence is, as far as I'm concerned, the single most important issue in ethics reform. Nothing gains the public's trust as much as an ethics program that is independent from the officials over whom it has jurisdiction. It is clear from the second report of the Chicago Ethics Ref…

Ethics Codes & Reform November 19, 2012

Second Round of Chicago Ethics Reforms II - Bad Ideas

My second blog post on the Chicago ethics task force's second report identified what I considered to be its worst ideas. Mayor Emanuel's recommendations accepted its bad ideas just as much as its good ideas. I considered the task force's worst idea to be having the corporation counsel play the role…

Ethics Codes & Reform November 19, 2012

Second Round of Chicago Ethics Reforms I - Good Ideas

The second round of Chicago ethics reform recommendations, based on the ethics task force's second report (attached; see below), have been proposed by Chicago's mayor Rahm Emanuel (click here to read a summary of the mayor's recommendations). The focus of this second round is on enforcement and oth…

November 14, 2012

The Way to Deal with Baltimore's Ethics Director's Conflict Situation

After Common Cause questioned the fitness of Baltimore's government ethics director for his job, an opinion piece called for him to be fired, and a Sun article appeared under the headline "Ethics oversight board hasn't met in years," finally a rational voice has spoken out: a Baltimore Sun editoria…

Transparency & Disclosure November 13, 2012

The Value of Applicant Disclosure

A situation that arose recently in Atlanta shows how important it is to require applicant disclosure of relationships with local government officials, and to hold applicants accountable. According to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta's ethics office dismissed allegations that …

Conflicts of Interest November 12, 2012

What Makes a Conflict Problematic

A conflict situation in Albuquerque presents an excellent opportunity to consider just what it is about conflicts that makes them problematic. According to an article in the Albuquerque Journal on Saturday, the chair of Albuquerque's Police Oversight Commission also directs the auxiliary of the loc…

Conflicts of Interest November 8, 2012

Gifts to Agencies Should Be Cleared with an Ethics Adviser

With the frequent confusion of person and office, sometimes it's not that easy to tell the difference between a gift to a local government agency and a gift to its director. This confusion can open an agency director to accusations of ethical misconduct. This is what has happened in Baltimore. Acco…

Local Government Practice November 7, 2012

A High-Level Official's Obligation to Seek Out the Truth

Several years ago, one of my town's department heads was arrested for embezzlement of funds. When someone had reported to the first selectman (effectively the mayor) that this was going on, the first selectman went to the department head and asked him if the report was true. The department head den…

Enforcement & Complaints October 18, 2012

Enforcing Ethics Laws Against Contractors: Quickest Is Not Always Best

It is important to bring contractors into an ethics program, requiring them to disclose gifts their employees make to officials, and to deal responsibly with possible conflicts they are aware of. Businesses tend to deal with such things internally. Bringing them into an ethics program requires them…

Conflicts of Interest October 17, 2012

Church Affiliation as a Conflict

I recently wrote a blog post about a situation where a citizen asked an ethics commission for ethics advice when council members failed to do so and, despite the corporation counsel's suggestion that it provide the advice, the ethics commission refused to provide it. In this post, I would like to c…

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