City Related | City Ethics

Ethics Codes & Reform December 18, 2010

Ethics Reform via Referendum, and Some Valuable Practices from New York City

Referendum Requires Ethics Training and Increases Penalties I learned at the COGEL conference last week that a referendum passed in New York City last month requires all city officials and employees to receive conflict of interest training. The Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) does provide traini…

Conflicts of Interest December 15, 2010

A Council Member Bidding on a Local Government Attorney Contract

If a council member's law firm wants to bid on being the local government's attorney, a contract that is approved by the council, what is the responsible way to handle the matter? In the borough of Lincoln City, NJ the council member feels that he merely needs to withdraw from participation in the …

Conflicts of Interest December 13, 2010

Relations Between Superiors and Subordinates: Three Cases from New York City

Here are three cases from New York City that involve relations between superiors and subordinates, one of the most important aspects of local government ethics. What is especially interesting is that two of these cases involve co-opting, in one case of subordinates, in the other of vendors. These c…

Local Government Practice December 11, 2010

Free Speech and the Difference Between Elected Officials and Ordinary Citizens

Yet another court decision discussed at the COGEL conference placed First Amendment free speech rights far above the obligations of a government official, employing a strict scrutiny approach where a simple due process (for statutory vagueness) approach would have been sufficient. This time the off…

December 10, 2010

An Election Official's Political Activity in Philadelphia

"You say that [we are] corrupt and I'll jump over this table and punch you out." Those are the words of Philadelphia city commissioner Margaret Tartaglione, according to an article in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer. She was upset by a journalist's questions regarding the handling of elections in…

December 9, 2010

Municipal Bid Rigging Nationwide and Ethics Day in Chicago

A Municipal Bid Rigging Scheme Comes to Light According to an article in the New York Times this week, Banc of America Securities (which recently merged with Merrill Lynch) agreed to pay the SEC and others $137 million to settle charges related to a municipal bond bid-rigging scheme. For those who …

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play December 2, 2010

Conflicts and Money

According to an Associated Press article yesterday, a New York City school principal "didn't think there was a conflict of interest because there was no exchange of money." According to an article in the Salmon Arm (B.C.) Observer yesterday, a town councillor argued against a relationship being a c…

December 1, 2010

Ordinary Local Government Ethics News Ignored

Sensational local government ethics news, such as scandals, is online in minutes. Ordinary local government ethics news, such as the appointment of a new executive director or general counsel, is covered more slowly, if at all. For example, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission announced via press rele…

Local Government Practice November 23, 2010

Educators' Obligation to Follow Government Ethics Rules or Argue Against Them

In a recent blog post, I wrote about how the mayor's selection for New York City schools chancellor needed to get a waiver from the state department of education because she lacked an educational background, and that she resigned corporate board positions to make it clear she was serious about taki…

Conflicts of Interest November 20, 2010

Handling an Indefinite Conflict Before It Becomes Definite

Indefinite conflicts can cause a lot of problems for officials. They see them as not yet ripe, not something they should have to deal with yet. But others see them as looming in the future, and want to know how the official plans to deal with them. One such indefinite conflict is the subject of con…

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