County Related | City Ethics

Local Government Practice March 2, 2009

Telling Local Government Officials About Honest Services Fraud

One argument rarely made for effective government ethics programs is that they will prevent government officials from being prosecuted for "honest services fraud." Honest services fraud is to bribery what manslaughter is to murder. Sort of. By this I mean that many officials accused of bribery plea…

Local Government Practice February 12, 2009

Competitive Bidding vs. Development Opportunity

Should an option in a light-rail train car manufacturing contract be exercised, rather than going to a competitive bid, because the company says it will move its plant, and 5,000 jobs, into the county? This dilemma is being faced by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), and t…

January 20, 2009

A Criminal Failure

I hate to harp so often on the problem of ethics matters being handled by criminal authorities, but when I read an article in the Nogales (AZ) International that begins as follows, I get angry. While there was “ample evidence of incompetence,” it took more than two years for Nils Urman, former Sant…

Ethics Codes & Reform December 18, 2007

Lessons to share from ethics reform in Winter Park

In this article published in the Orlando Sentinel, the "Consultant" referred to was Carla Miller, of CityEthics, in a workshop presented in the spring of 2007. From: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/views/orl-ethics1707dec17,0,3397755.story Richard Foglesong | Special To The Sentinel (…

November 21, 2006

Developers and Ethics Reform

On November 15, 2006, David Damron of the Orlando Sentinel reported on Lawson Lamar, the local state attorney's call for "sweeping new ethics laws he said would limit the influence of developers and other special interests on city and county governments. In a Nov. 2 letter to city and county leader…

September 27, 2006

NY Courts - Part 2: How a Reviled Court System Has Outlasted Critics

September 27, 2006 Broken Bench How a Reviled Court System Has Outlasted Critics By WILLIAM GLABERSON 'A farce in these days,' Gov. Alfred E. Smith pronounced New York State''s town and village courts in 1926. 'An outworn system,' said his successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, not long after a state co…

Resources & Learning June 26, 2006

Boot camp for city officials teaches 'a culture of ethics'

from the June 26, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0626/p02s01-usgn.html At a seminar in California, municipal leaders learn how to stay on the straight and narrow in times of temptation. By Daniel B. Wood | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor SANTA CLARA, CALIF. Wearing lanya…

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