County Related | City Ethics

August 21, 2009

Ethics Reform Suggestions in Cumberland County (NJ): Transparency and an Odd EC Setup

Republican candidates in Cumberland County, in southern New Jersey (pop. 150,000), are pushing for several ethics reforms, including some fresh ideas. According to an article in the Press of Atlantic City and an article on nj.com, the focus is on opening up public access to information. Suggested t…

Ethics Commissions & Administration August 18, 2009

The Witch Hunt Argument Against Ethics Commissions with Teeth

Update - see below (9/2/09) One of the biggest limitations on local government ethics codes can be state ethics laws. In Connecticut, for example, state laws seriously limit how much local ethics commissions can fine violators of an ethics code. In fact, the language is so vague, many lawyers insis…

Ethics Codes & Reform August 17, 2009

The Anti-Corruption Political Strategy. And an Alternative.

One of the principal reasons I have devoted myself to local government ethics is that the ethical habits of government officials and politicians are usually formed at the local level. Politicians who become accustomed to a poor local ethics environment bring their values to state and federal govern…

August 1, 2009

The Results of Jefferson County's Unethical Behavior

It's rare to see the clear results of unethical behavior in local government. Sadly, exceptionally clear results can be seen in a front-page article in today's New York Times. Jefferson County, Alabama, the home of Birmingham, had a serious scandal involving sewer repairs and bonds, which I wrote a…

Ethics Codes & Reform July 18, 2009

Trying to Do Too Much in an Ethics Code

One problem local governments have in drafting ethics codes is that they want it to be too many things, to serve too many purposes. They want it to be an aspirational code of conduct, making local government more civil and government officials more honest and fair. They want it to make officials fo…

Local Government Practice July 11, 2009

Should a Local Government Attorney Represent Both the Executive and Legislative Branches?

As I have noted again and again, there is no more difficult, conflicted role than that of a local government attorney. In small towns, there's not a lot that can be done. But in cities and counties, there are several things that can be done to lessen the local government attorney's conflicts. This …

June 20, 2009

Selling Advertising on Local Government Websites

Over the last two days, a new-fangled local government ethics controversy has taken Ohio by storm: allowing counties to sell advertising on their websites. A law to that effect has been inserted in the pending state budget bill, according to an Associated Press article. The rationale is simple: c…

June 8, 2009

County Attorney Conflicts and a Lack of Transparency in Maricopa County

Maricopa County (home of Phoenix) is doing an excellent job of showing America's local governments what not to do. In April, I wrote about the conflict that existed when the county attorney, after representing the county board of supervisors as it put together plans and contracts for a new county c…

Ethics Codes & Reform June 3, 2009

Problems with Ethics Provisions That Go Beyond Conflicts of Interest Issues

Update (9/30/09) I tend to focus a lot on weaknesses of ethics codes, but sometimes ethics codes go too far. One reason for this is that they are usually responses to scandals that are criminal in nature, that is, scandals that do not involve conflicts of interest. Another reason is that most peopl…

June 2, 2009

FBI Investigation in Cuyahoga County Leads to First Phase of Charges

A three-year FBI investigation of Cuyahoga County (which includes Cleveland) appears to have begun with a sting operation involving building inspectors, where an undercover agent offered bribes, and they were accepted, according to an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Six building inspectors w…

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