Skip to main content
CityEthics Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Main navigation

    • Conflicts of Interest
    • Ethics Codes & Reform
    • Ethics Commissions & Administration
    • Local Government Practice
    • Enforcement & Complaints
    • Transparency & Disclosure
    • Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play
    • Resources & Learning
    • News & Commentary
    • Resources Overview
    • City Ethics Essentials
    • Working Definitions
    • Top Ten Ethics Films
    • Books of Interest
    • About City Ethics
    • Carla Miller
    • Robert Wechsler
    • Don McClintock
Ethics topic
Transparency & Disclosure
84 articles

Transparency & Disclosure

Transparency & Disclosure June 30, 2010

Guidelines for Transparency in Local Government Legislative Redistricting

The great majority of what is written about legislative redistricting focuses on state and federal redistricting. But many cities, even some towns, have districts too, and resetting district boundaries is an important political process designed to prevent public participation and to undermine publi…
Read more →
Transparency & Disclosure June 29, 2010

Self-Interest and the Transparency of Local Government Ethics Proceedings

The confidentiality, or transparency, of local government ethics complaints and proceedings is a funny topic. Most of the time, government officials want as much confidentiality as possible. They don't want ethical issues concerning them to be mentioned in public. But there are times when they want…
Read more →
Transparency & Disclosure June 27, 2010

Transparency, Anonymity, and Moral Courage

In my recent blog post on Maricopa County, I referred to the problem of harassment and intimidation by government officials against other government officials and employees. I have also referred in the past to the even more serious problem of harassment, intimidation, and ad hominem attacks by gove…
Read more →
Transparency & Disclosure May 7, 2010

Disclosure of Local Government Lobbyist Fees

According to an article in the Jacksonville Times-Union this week, former Jacksonville council member and current lobbyist Ginny Myrick said, in response to lobbying reforms suggested by Jacksonville ethics officer, and City Ethics' president, Carla Miller, that (not exact words) "it is important f…
Read more →
Transparency & Disclosure March 17, 2010

A New Idea: Lifestyle Audits

Have you ever wondered how a local government department head can afford to live like a king on a $100,000 salary? This is what people are wondering in South Africa, where union leaders are calling for "lifestyle audits" of all senior government officials in order to find out who is on the take, ac…
Read more →
Transparency & Disclosure March 9, 2010

When Transparency Gets Sneaky

When a major newspaper's editorial on a city council's handling of an important ethics issue begins with "Sneaky. Real sneaky." it's something worth sharing with those interested in local government ethics. The newspaper is the Jacksonville Times-Union, and the editorial on a new bill to take the c…
Read more →
Transparency & Disclosure March 4, 2010

An Honor System That Didn't Work

An article in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer says that the state's inspector general has found that, despite past problems, the South Jersey Transportation Authority has gotten its act together, ethically speaking. But go to the authority's News Clip page, and all it says is "Nothing to Report."…
Read more →
Transparency & Disclosure February 21, 2010

Another Side to Disclosure

Disclosure is almost always about what the public should know. But there is another side to disclosure: what the official should know. This is especially important in pay-to-play. The idea for this blog post came from Randy Cohen's Ethicist column in today's New York Times. The context there is cor…
Read more →
Transparency & Disclosure February 9, 2010

Attorney-Client Privilege and Financial Disclosure: A New NYC Bar Association Report

Some lawyers abuse or misrepresent the lawyer-client privilege and client confidentiality to protect their own unethical conduct. But no one does it better than elected government officials who also happen to be lawyers, and have the ability to draft ethics laws. A report by the New York City Bar A…
Read more →
Transparency & Disclosure January 26, 2010

Use of Private E-Mail Accounts for Public Business

I continue to be thankful for Sarah Palin's incredible ability to get pedestrian government ethics issues into the public eye. This time it's the use of private e-mails for public business, according to an article in yesterday's New York Times. There are lots of new rules about using government com…
Read more →

Pagination

  • Previous page ‹‹
  • Page 5
  • Next page ››
Subscribe to Transparency & Disclosure

Search

User account menu

  • Log in
CityEthics
Local government ethics, explored
© 2026 CityEthics.org