Conflicts | City Ethics

Ethics Commissions & Administration September 15, 2010

Who Makes the Best Ethics Commission Member?

Who is the best sort of individual to select as an ethics commission member? Some people believe it's a member of the clergy, because who else is more ethical? And there are many clergy members on ethics commissions across the country. But this shows either a misunderstanding of government ethics …

Conflicts of Interest September 13, 2010

The Ethics of Municipal Pension Plans Revisited

Four years after I wrote a blog post entitled The Ethics of Today's Municipal Pension Plan Problems, according to an op-ed piece in the New York Times, New Jersey agreed with the S.E.C. never again to fraudulently hide its underfunding of the state’s public pension system. And the Republican candid…

Local Government Practice August 31, 2010

Why It Is Important To Ensure That Legislators Show Up to Work

It is troubling that legislators insist that legislative immunity protects them in order that they may represent their constituents, and yet legislative bodies rarely have rules to ensure that their members represent their constituents by showing up to debate and vote. The result is that some legis…

Conflicts of Interest August 23, 2010

Alternatives to Allowing Conflicted Individuals to Sit on Advisory Boards

Should advisory board and task force members be excepted from conflict of interest rules? Jurisdictions disagree about this. Some believe that, when a board has no authority to act or implement, the usual rules should not apply. The principal argument is that there are times when a government needs…

Conflicts of Interest August 7, 2010

Local Government Financial Advisers Must Have No Conflicts

It's important not to have pension board members with serious conflicts of interest, such as a personal interest in the board's investments, or acting as providers of investment products (see my blog post on California reforms prohibiting such conflicts). But it is equally important for a pension b…

Conflicts of Interest August 5, 2010

Parents' Fear of Retaliation

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post about intimidation, but I forgot to mention what might be the greatest fear among citizens relating to their local government: the fear that if they speak out against local officials, especially school officials, it will affect their school-age children. I was remind…

Conflicts of Interest July 16, 2010

The Need to Anticipate Perceptions When Dealing with Nepotism Issues

Here's an interesting modern spin on an old-fashioned nepotism/conflict of interest matter. According to an article in Tuesday's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the husband of a member of a charter school's board was hired to teach at the charter school, and there is disagreement over whether there is …

Conflicts of Interest July 10, 2010

A Solution to the Problems of Local Government Attorney Ethics Advice

There is nothing more important in local government ethics than timely, independent, professional ethics advice. And there is no bigger problem in local government ethics than poor ethics advice, especially that given by local government attorneys who (1) do not have a full understanding of governm…

Conflicts of Interest May 1, 2010

Conflicts Involving Reputation and Government Positions

San Francisco's Conflict of Interest code has an unusual provision about voting on one's own conduct or position. You would think this provision goes without saying, but I can assure you it does not. §3.210. Voting on Own Character or Conduct. (a) Prohibition. No officer or employee of the City and…

Local Government Practice April 21, 2010

Ethical Behavior As a Team Endeavor

It would be easy to say that politics is a team sport, like football, while ethics is an individual sport, like tennis. But this simply isn't true. Both ethical behavior and unethical behavior can be done as a team. Four years ago, in one of my first and most important blog posts, on ethical failur…

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