City Related | City Ethics

Resources & Learning July 23, 2019

Barriers to Civic Engagement -- a TED Talk from Dave Meslin

I just watched this 6.5 Minute TED Talk that pulls apart all the reasons that we become "disengaged" in the political process.I think he has hit the nail on the head - he left me feeling a faint ray of hope - that we can use our power as voters to push for reforms of all of his points.Please watch …

November 25, 2015

Montreal's Charbonneau Commission Report Is Published

The big news in local government ethics yesterday was the publication of the final report of Quebec's Charbonneau Commission, which investigated bid rigging in the Montreal area, involving not only government officials and contractors, but also the Mafia and Hells Angels (see my 2012 blog post on t…

Ethics Codes & Reform November 20, 2015

A Lobbying Pledge

A Portland, OR mayoral candidate made an interesting pledge in September, according to an article in the Portland Tribune: I will not permit any individual who was a paid member of my campaign or my mayoral staff to lobby me or my office on behalf of a private entity. This prohibition will extend t…

Transparency & Disclosure November 10, 2015

San Jose Shows the Importance of Ongoing Lobbying Disclosure

In my chapter on local lobbying, I argue that even quarterly disclosure of lobbying activities is not sufficiently timely and that lobbyists' disclosures should be supplemented by the disclosures of high-level officials. According to an article in Sunday's San Jose Mercury News, in San Jose, CA lob…

October 15, 2015

Fraud and Ethics Enforcement

Criminal enforcement of ethics violations usually involves fraud, and less so honest services fraud (which was essentially misuse of office) now that it has been essentially limited to bribery. And yet ethics enforcement rarely involves fraud, because ethics codes do not have fraud provisions. This…

Local Government Practice August 24, 2015

Private Police Forces and Government Ethics

What are the government ethics implications of private security when it goes beyond protecting specific businesses, malls, universities, and gated communities, becomes an adjunct to or replacement of an ordinary police force, and is done in conjunction with the public police force and, often, using…

Ethics Commissions & Administration July 15, 2015

A Critique of New Orleans' Ethics Program

David A. Marcello, the Executive Director of the Public Law Center at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, has been keeping close tabs on New Orleans' troubled ethics program. In 2011, he published a report on how Hurricane Katrina (2005) led New Orleans' officials to turn a moribund ethics…

Conflicts of Interest June 3, 2015

A City of Industry, and Conflicts Galore

Anyone who follows my blog knows that my favorite city to write about is Vernon, CA, the "Dream Machine," a city with lots of industry and no one other than city employees who might complain about what's in their backyard, or call for oversight. But Vernon is not the only city of its kind, not even…

March 17, 2015

MO Municipal Ticket Fixing Systems

More from St. Louis County municipalities. According to an article in Sunday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, several of these municipalities — with the connivance of municipal court judges, local prosecutors, police officers, and lawyers — use the state's point system for traffic tickets to get more mon…

March 4, 2015

The Administrative-Criminal Enforcement Fiefdom in Ferguson, MO

The word "fiefdom" does not appear in the U.S. Justice Department's March 4 report on Ferguson, MO's police department, but that is what the report describes. What is unusual about the fiefdom is that it is controlled by the council, not by an executive or attorney. It is far from a classic fiefdom…

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