Advisory Opinions | City Ethics

Conflicts of Interest June 16, 2014

Risk and Government Ethics

Thinking in terms of risk is a great way not to take responsibility for your actions, including your inactions. As soon as you start thinking about the chances that, overall, you might win or lose from a transaction, you have begun thinking in terms of your personal interest. This makes it very dif…

Transparency & Disclosure June 2, 2014

If Fiduciary Duty Governs Financial Advice, Why Not Ethics Advice and Officials' Disclosure?

One of the great things about discussions of the conflicts of interest of people in the securities world is that "fiduciary duty" is considered the basis for the rules that govern their relationship with government officials and others. In discussions of the conflicts of interest of those whom they…

Conflicts of Interest May 8, 2014

The Problem with Legislative Ethics Waivers

Many government ethics professionals don't like waivers. I think they're valuable. Basically, they are requests for an advisory opinion in which the official recognizes that certain conduct would constitute an ethics violation, but wants a determination that he can engage in the conduct due to spec…

Conflicts of Interest May 5, 2014

The Role of Motive in Government Ethics

A conflict situation in my state of Connecticut is instructive regarding a basic concept of government ethics, as well as a basic concept of legislative immunity. Legislators insist that they require immunity because their motives in making decisions cannot be questioned outside their body. Governm…

Resources & Learning April 10, 2014

Spring Reading: Dennis Moberg on Frames of Perception in Organizations

I thought that I had covered all the blind spots that wreak such havoc on local government ethics (see the section in my book Local Government Ethics Programs). But Dennis J. Moberg's essay, "Ethics Blind Spots in Organizations: How Systematic Errors in Person Perception Undermine Moral Agency" (Or…

Ethics Commissions & Administration April 9, 2014

A Court Decision in Florida Validates an Inspector General's Advice

Here's a good-news story from Delray Beach, FL. But first the bad news. According to an op-ed by Rhonda Swan this week in the Sun-Sentinel, in 2012 the Palm Beach County inspector general "warned Delray that extending its contract with Waste Management until 2021 without seeking bids would violate …

Resources & Learning April 2, 2014

Spring Reading: The Government Ethics Adviser As Civics Teacher

"'Public Service Must Begin at Home': The Lawyer as Civics Teacher in Everyday Practice" by Bruce A. Green and Russell G. Pearce (William & Mary Law Review, Vol. 50, p. 1207, 2009) provides an excellent basis for something that I consider extremely important to government ethics, but with which man…

Local Government Practice February 11, 2014

A Miscellany

Sometimes Withdrawal and Formal Processes Are Not Enough It never looks good when a high-level elected official gets a job with the government while in office or soon after leaving office. It looks like he got the job because of his influence and relationships with those who made the decision. Acco…

Ethics Codes & Reform January 27, 2014

Florida League of Cities' Ethics Reform Proposals II - Gifts, Ethics Advice, and Training

This is the second of four blog posts on Florida Senate Bill 606 (attached; see below), one of the worst ethics reform bills I have ever read (click here to read the first post, which focused on a provision that provides an additional penalty on complainants in order to reduce the number of ethics …

Local Government Practice January 15, 2014

Prestige of Office Provisions

Some jurisdictions have an ethics provision entitled Prestige of Office that, among other things, limits work that officials can do outside of government. Here is the language that the Baltimore school district uses (this is essentially the same as the city government's Prestige of Office provision…

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