City Related | City Ethics

October 28, 2010

Mayor Resigns to Make an Ethics Point

Here's an interesting twist. The mayor of Watervliet, Michigan (pop. 1,900) resigned in protest after the city commission interviewed one of its own members for the apparently paid position of city treasurer, according to an article in the Herald Palladium on Tuesday. The commission (six commission…

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play October 26, 2010

Political Money Laundering

What is the worst local campaign finance violation? According to an article yesterday from the Los Angeles Daily News, it appears to be political money laundering. Mark Abrams, a former Beverly Hills developer, was fined $108,000 yesterday, and $270,000 for similar violations back in 2005. Accordin…

Local Government Practice October 24, 2010

Mayors Sitting on City Boards

According to an article in the Vancouver Sun, the mayor of Vancouver, BC is concerned about the conflict between his chairing the city's police board and his role in approving the police budget. He said, "It's difficult for me to advocate directly to the mayor on behalf of the police board because …

October 23, 2010

Palm Beach Council Sneakily Opposes County Ethics Reform

According to an article in the Palm Beach Daily News, Florida law "forbids government bodies from advocating for voters to vote yes or no in a referendum election, and from spending funds to advertise for that purpose." But as with all laws, there are ways to end-run this prohibition, and the town …

Local Government Practice October 18, 2010

The Vicious Circle of Fear and Indifference

Citizen indifference and lack of participation is the most damaging result of a lack of trust in government officials. One reason is that a vicious circle is created. When government officials are untrustworthy, and especially when they use intimidation to create the sort of fear that severely cuts…

Local Government Practice October 9, 2010

Learning and Forming a Local Government's Unethical Environment

I chose to specialize in local government ethics because this is where it all starts. This is where the individuals who become our representatives experience their first unethical environment, become team players, learn the rules of the game, and begin to feel a special entitlement. One good thing …

Conflicts of Interest October 7, 2010

Moonlighting for a Vendor and Donations of Sick Time from Subordinates

There's a lot to learn from the chief of New Orleans' emergency medical service's past conflicts of interest, which have only recently become public. Despite the compassion one must feel for the official, the conflicts were poorly handled by her and by the former mayor and his administration. Accor…

Enforcement & Complaints October 6, 2010

Stamford Official's Attempt to Prevent Government Employees from Filing Ethics Complaints Is Nipped in the Bud

There's a new twist to the ethics mess in Stamford, which I described in a blog post last week. It turns out that, according to an article in the Stamford Advocate, a board of finance member, against whom an ethics complaint had been brought, charged that the city employee who filed the complaint "…

Enforcement & Complaints October 5, 2010

A Local Legislative Body's Duty to Investigate When Legislative Activities Are Involved

I've written several blog posts about the criminal trials of a Baltimore council member and the former Baltimore mayor, focusing on their successful legislative immunity defenses (1 2 3 4). However, the former mayor was convicted of embezzling $500 in gift cards (no defense to that), and she resign…

Conflicts of Interest October 5, 2010

Confusion of Person and Office

In the Indiana Secretary of State race, the headlines are all about voter fraud. But the bigger problem, I think, involves the failure of one of the candidates to differentiate himself from his seat on the Fishers city council. According to an article in the Indianapolis Star, although the candidat…

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