City Related
Getting the Green Bay Ethics Program into the Super Bowl
Robert Wechsler
The Green Bay Packers football team is going to try to win its game
today in order to get to the playoffs and seek its first Super Bowl
victory since 1996. Before 1996, the Packers hadn't won a Super Bowl
since
Vince Lombardi coached them there in 1967.
A Local Government Association Board Member's Possible Conflicts
Robert Wechsler
According to an
article yesterday on seacoastonline.com, a committee of the Select
Board of North
Hampton, NH (pop.
A Council-Controlled Ethics Process Can Be a Real Battle Ground
Robert Wechsler
It is difficult to emphasize too much that council control over the
ethics process is not only inappropriate and ineffective, but harmful.
The first use of a new ethics ordinance in the aptly named Battle
Ground, Washington (pop. 18,000) provides yet another example of
the problems that may arise.
Centralized vs. Disbursed Ethics Programs
Robert Wechsler
Is discomfort with a centralized ethics program by various parts of a local
government something that should stand in the way of creating one?
According to an
article in the New Haven Register last week, this has been
suggested in a discussion by the board of selectmen of Madison, CT, a town about a half
hour's drive from where I live.
Conflicts and Fraud
Robert Wechsler
If "conflict of interest" were a cause of action, what would it be? A
matter right in the small city next to my town answers this question,
and gives a new angle by which to view conflicts.
A Miscellany
Robert Wechsler
Government Executives and the Ethics Commission Selection Process
Should government chief executives appoint ethics commission members or their staff? The common practice is that they usually do. But the common practice is not necessarily the best practice, especially when it puts a conflict of interest at the heart of the conflict of interest process.
Should government chief executives appoint ethics commission members or their staff? The common practice is that they usually do. But the common practice is not necessarily the best practice, especially when it puts a conflict of interest at the heart of the conflict of interest process.
Large Contracts, Bid Rigging, and Pension Boards in Detroit
Robert Wechsler
What can local government ethics professionals learn from what has come out in the
recent indictments of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his
father, the city's
director of water and sewerage, Kilpatrick's CAO and CIO, and a city
contractor?
A Gift Exception That Undermines the Rule
Robert Wechsler
My
last blog post involved the Baltimore Employees'
Retirement System board calling in an image consultant to help
protect it from an investigation by the
city's ethics board.
The Image Consultant's Role in Local Government Ethics
Robert Wechsler
Things have changed. It used to be that the first thing you did when
you found out the local ethics commission was investigating you was
hire a lawyer (which is itself a change from the days when you found
out you were being investigated by the D.A. and handed him a bribe).
A Miscellany
Robert Wechsler
A Failure to Respond to an Ethics Complaint
It's always interesting to see how many ways there are not to deal with ethics complaints. When you think you've seen them all, a new one comes out of nowhere.
It's always interesting to see how many ways there are not to deal with ethics complaints. When you think you've seen them all, a new one comes out of nowhere.