Conflicts | City Ethics

November 7, 2013

A Florida Legislative Committee Calls for the Suspension of the Palm Beach County EC

Toward the end of a video of the November 4 meeting of the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee, the committee vice-chair says that the testimony he heard was very "troubling." I felt the same way about the meeting as a whole, but for completely different reasons. What occurred at this meet…

Conflicts of Interest October 21, 2013

Problems with the Disqualification Argument

A colleague asked me recently about the argument that withdrawal from participation by a legislator, who cannot delegate to someone else, "disenfranchises" that legislator's constituents. Since disenfranchisement is a terrible thing, the argument goes, legislators cannot be asked to withdraw from p…

Conflicts of Interest September 18, 2013

Is Wealth a Vaccine Against Conflicts of Interest?

Here is an interesting government ethics argument. According to a Lenore Taylor column in the Guardian this week, mining billionaire Clive Palmer, who is running for a seat in the Australian parliament, says that he cannot have a conflict of interest because he is so rich, he has everything he need…

Conflicts of Interest September 9, 2013

The Perils of Prohibiting Officials from Having Conflicts of Interest

One of the most frequent mistakes in the drafting of a government ethics code is prohibiting officials from having conflicts of interest. There is nothing wrong with an official having a conflict of interest. There is only something wrong with an official creating a conflict or failing to deal resp…

Conflicts of Interest August 1, 2013

The Language of "Influence"

"[Standard & Poor's's ratings have always been] uninfluenced by conflicts of interest." —Spokesperson for S&P, in response to a government lawsuit saying that S&P's ratings have been influenced by their conflicts of interest. Quoted in today's New York Times The problem here is the language of "inf…

Conflicts of Interest July 30, 2013

Another Non-Financial Conflict Poorly Handled

One of the worst times to create a conflict of interest is in the midst of labor negotiations. This is what has happened recently in San Francisco, where Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is negotiating contracts with its three unions. There was a short strike in July, and now there are negotiations wi…

Conflicts of Interest March 26, 2013

Confusing Pre-Existing Conflicts with Conflicts Created by Events

Many people believe that conflicts of interest are in and of themselves bad, and that government ethics laws should prevent those with conflicts of interest from becoming public servants. Many people believe that government ethics is about being good or bad. When the two come together in one person…

Conflicts of Interest March 11, 2013

The Need for Sensitivity

People (including government officials) usually talk about conflict situations as if they involved the public (represented by do-good ethics types) trying to get public servants (who are represented as corrupt) to sacrifice either their family, friends, or business opportunities or their duty to do…

Ethics Codes & Reform December 21, 2012

Understanding the Need for a Government Ethics Program

In a blog post two weeks ago, I welcomed an excellent, although sketchy, set of recommendations by a national law firm that amounted to a recommendation for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to set up a full-fledged ethics program. According to an article in the Washington …

Conflicts of Interest December 21, 2012

What We Can Learn from Robert Bork's Failure to Deal Responsibly with a Conflict Situation

The death of Robert Bork is a good time to learn from the biggest mistake in his life, one that may have cost him a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. It involved his failure to deal responsibly with a superior's conflict of interest, and his own, since his superior forced his conflict situation onto …

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