Ethics Codes & Reform

In detailing aspirational ethics -- that is, ethical conduct that will not be enforced by the Ethics Commission -- this Model Code goes a step beyond a declaration of policy and purpose. It includes the full text of the American Society for Public Administration's aspirational ethics code. Below is…

This is the place to discuss the protection from mistreatment by superiors of municipal employees who file complaints or act as witnesses in ethics proceedings. Significant issues include the need and effectiveness of such protection, and the language necessary to make it effective as well as to pr…

Following Mark Davies, I have placed definitions not at the front of the Code, where they usually appear, but at the end of the Ethics Provisions section. The reasoning behind this choice is that definitions should not be as important as they often are. Often, definitions include significant conten…

This is the place to comment on the Model Code's miscellaneous provisions, and to suggest different language as well as additional provisions. 218. Miscellaneous Provisions. 1. No existing right or remedy may be lost, impaired, or affected by reason of this code. 2. Nothing in this code may be deem…

This is the place to comment on, discuss, and share alternative content and language relating to the declarations of policy that can usually be found at the beginnning of municipal ethics codes. Most declarations are very short and often ignored, since they cannot be enforced. But they are importan…

Below is Robert Wechsler's introduction to the Model Municipal Ethics Code. This is the place to comment on issues raised and positions taken in this introdcution. Introduction Since most cities already have an ethics code, why is there a need for a model code? Because, as Mark Davies has so effect…

City Ethics' Model Code Project assumes that an ethics code is central to municipal ethics programs. But this raises several issues. How important is an ethics code to an ethics program? Can an effective ethical environment be created without any sort of written ethics code? If an ethics code is ne…

One of the most serious problems with municipal ethics codes is their unreadability. Few of those who write them seem to consider the capabilities of the code's audience: municipal officials and employees without a legal education. In 1998, the Securities and Exchange Commission insisted that docum…

Has any one had any experience where the government unit has oursourced what would normally be considered a government activity and then imposed the government's ethics policy on the contractor?