Complaints/ Investigations/Hearings

A week ago, I wrote about the weaknesses of an ethics initiative in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. This week, in neighboring Lackawanna County, the responses to a March 25 state ethics commission decision has shown truly irresponsible handling of one man's conflicts in two school districts. Lakeland…

A Good Discussion of a Possible Conflict It's good to see ethics discussions where both sides have good arguments to make. According to an article yesterday on southcoasttoday.com, the selectmen of Lakeville, MA were discussing the possible hiring of an electrical inspector who does electrical work…

Here's another blog post about a Georgian who wants out of EC jurisdiction. Some ethics commissions, especially state ethics commissions, have no jurisdiction over officials once they leave office. Especially when ECs require confidentiality regarding complaints until probable cause is found, this …

Let me take a logical approach to the topic of government ethics proceeding confidentiality before I look at what has been happening in Utah this last week. Government ethics is intended to protect the public from officials acting in their own interest rather than in the public interest. Acting lik…

Many of the most difficult situations in government ethics involve relationships that are not direct. For example, situations where the company that provides a benefit does not do business with the local government, but is owned by someone who owns another company that does do business with or have…