City Related | City Ethics

Conflicts of Interest November 24, 2009

The Desire for Good Relations as a Conflicting Interest

An article in the Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise this week raises two interesting government ethics issues. One involves conflicts based on a business-related desire to have good relations with the local government. The other involves conflicts based on campaign contributions to elected officials …

Ethics Codes & Reform November 17, 2009

The Cost of Low-Quality Ethics Laws

The mayor of Baltimore is on trial for stealing $1,500 in gift cards, allegedly intended for poor Baltimore residents. A letter to the editor of the Baltimore Sun proposes a better approach than a trial costing hundreds of thousands of dollars: ... It is a shame that the people who really needed th…

Conflicts of Interest November 11, 2009

Divulging Confidential Information Is Not a Conflict If It Only Benefits Someone Politically

In a recent blog post on the new Michigan Model Local Government Ethics Ordinance, I noted in passing that the model wrongfully made divulging confidential information a violation even when it benefits no one, and that this is not a government ethics issue. This same issue arose this week in Bainbr…

November 11, 2009

Dallas Ethics Reforms Pass, But There Are Enforcement Problems

The Dallas ethics reforms described in a recent blog post were passed on Monday, according to the Dallas Morning News. However, according to James Ragland's column in yesterday's Morning News, the enforcement mechanism is still very weak. First of all, the ethics commission is completely passive. I…

Conflicts of Interest November 9, 2009

How a Board Should Handle a Member's Contract Conflict

An interesting disagreement has arisen over what is required for a contract with a council member to constitute a conflict of interest in California. According to an article in the Valley Chronicle, the city of Hemet and the League of California Cities disagree with a grand jury about whether a par…

Conflicts of Interest November 9, 2009

The Problem with Gifts to City via Elected Officials

In past blog posts, I have focused on the perjury charges against Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon that relate to her failure to disclose gifts from a developer who was seeking tax breaks. But today, Dixon goes on trial for theft involving gift cards allegedly given to the office of the city council pr…

November 3, 2009

Anti-Ethical Electioneering

It's Election Day 2009, so what better topic than a particularly slimy instance of negative campaigning that attacks a candidate for seeking an advisory opinion from the local ethics board, and actually following it. According to an article on kcrg.com this Sunday, a candidate's flier said that his…

Local Government Practice November 2, 2009

Local Government Employees on Local Government Pension Boards - An Important Court Case in California

It's been over three years since I wrote about the conflict situation of San Diego's pension board. Its members were selected by the city government labor unions and by the city, and they worked for the city. When an increase in their retirement benefits was explicitly tied to their approval of a r…

October 31, 2009

Dallas Ethics Reform Proposals to Go to Vote November 9

Dallas council members' control over development in their districts led earlier this month to the conviction of one council member and four associates for extortion. Now the Dallas mayor, Tom Leppert, is effectively forcing the hand of the city council to enact ethics reforms to provide more transp…

October 30, 2009

Misuse of the Baltimore City Foundation

Update: November 11, 2009 (see below) Is there any worse way to skirt government ethics rules and misuse public money and position than via a charitable organization? And yet it happens again and again. This time it happened in Baltimore, according to the results of an extensive investigation by th…

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