City Related | City Ethics

May 16, 2008

The Statistical Projections Game - The Cards Go Out on the Table

Actuary Jonathan Schwartz has received no funds from City Ethics. But it may seem like that from how perfectly today's front-page New York Times article follows up on the blog entry I posted yesterday. In yesterday's blog entry, I argued that governments and public sector unions do not have the sam…

Local Government Practice May 15, 2008

The Ethics of a City Filing for Bankruptcy

The city of Vallejo, California (pop. 117,000) is about to file for bankruptcy, primarily, it appears, to allow it to void union contracts and have a bankruptcy judge rather than negotiations work out a new contract. Sajan George, an adviser to struggling public entities, has said, "There's a wave …

Conflicts of Interest May 14, 2008

The Responsibilities of a Lawyer Representing a Public Official

A quote from a lawyer in an article in today's New York Times brought me back to what I recently promised to discuss at the end of a blog entry about Elizabeth Wolgast's book, Ethics of an Artificial Person: Lost Responsibility in Professions and Organizations. Daniel K. Webb, the head of Detroit M…

Ethics Codes & Reform May 13, 2008

Above the Law Is Well Below Ethics

How a big-city police chief responds to his commission of an ethics violation is more important than the violation itself. The worst thing he can do is act as if he is above the law, as if ethics laws, not to mention ethics considerations, do not apply to him. Sadly, Miami's police chief, John Timo…

Ethics Codes & Reform May 12, 2008

Law + Character Do Not = Ethics

According to a recent article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth's mayor, Mike Moncrief, made $633,000 last year from the oil and gas business. He also has an interest in several real estate developments. A committee, appointed by the mayor and council, will soon be making recommendations …

Local Government Practice May 11, 2008

Form of Government Ethics Issues

Form of government issues are not generally considered to be part of government ethics. But they are intertwined in important ways. This can be seen from the New York City Council slush fund scandal. According to an article in today's New York Times, it began when the Board of Estimate, a finance…

Enforcement & Complaints May 10, 2008

Political Use of Ethics Enforcement

Ethics complaints are often brought for purely political reasons, and election time is the favorite time for bringing them. According to an article in yesterday's Flint Journal, a Thetford Township Supervisor brought an ethics complaint before his own board against a township Trustee who is plannin…

Transparency & Disclosure May 9, 2008

Legal Advice and Government Accountability

Elizabeth Wolgast’s 1992 book, Ethics of an Artificial Person: Lost Responsibility in Professions and Organizations, raises some very important government ethics questions. I will deal with just one of them here. The term “artificial persons” includes lawyers and government officials who are consid…

May 8, 2008

Tilting at Wind Farms in Northern New York State

Ethics in a small town can be very problematic when one large company with special property interests comes into town. Whether it is a developer, a landfill owner, or other sort of business that seeks to get property or expand its holdings at an inexpensive price, its needs often lead it to tempt i…

May 5, 2008

Favoring Friends - The Massachusetts Approach

Everyone knows it’s not right for government officials to favor their friends, but because friendships are so difficult to define, they don’t appear in ethics codes. Relatives can be defined, domestic partners can be defined, business associates can be defined, but not boyfriends or pals or old bud…

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