City Related

Reading the newspapers, you might not realize that behind all the fraud, non-disclosure, and "reckless mismanagement" that former S.E.C. Chair Arthur Levitt found in San Diego's pension and wastewater systems were serious conflicts of interest. The sort of conflicts of interest that most people con…

Patronage is the most basic of all municipal conflicts of interest. It involves not only self-interest (my job), but also a variety of organizational interests (my agency, party, ethnic or racial group, friends). In every little patronage decision, all of these interests take precedence over the pu…

Yesterday's Supreme Court decision in Randall v. Sorrell is a setback for municipal efforts at campaign finance reform (CFR). CFR is a municipal ethics issue, because the justification for campaign spending and contribution limits is that such limits help to prevent corruption. The main decision of…

Brief History of Denver in Politics Denver entered the political arena fairly quickly to its founding in 1858, and incorporation in 1861. The city was named the state capital of Colorado upon its entering the Union in 1876, as state leaders saw Denver, which was the territorial capital of the 15 ye…

As the official name implies, the City and County San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a charter city and charter county with a consolidated government, a status it has had since 1856. It is the only such consolidation in California and the only California county with a…

Honolulu Government Originally governed by a Board of Supervisors, the City & County of Honolulu is administered under a mayor-council system of governance overseeing all municipal services: civil defense, emergency medical, fire, parks and recreation, police, sanitation, streets, water, among othe…

Wikipedia Page: Oakland, CA Public Ethics Commission The City of Oakland Public Ethics Commission was established in November, 1996. The mission of the Public Ethics Commission is to promote the highest confidence in the ethics of the government of the City of Oakland. We help ensure that governmen…

Seattle Ethics & Elections Commission One of the missions of The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission is to administer, interpret and enforce the Seattle Code of Ethics, Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 4.16 (SMC 4.16). The Code provides a standard of conduct for all City officers and employees, w…