Transparency

Corporate executives have obligations not only to stockholders, but also to other stakeholders, including customers, creditors, and the greater community. However, government officials, at least from the government ethics point of view, have overwhelming obligations only to members of their immedia…

Are Americans turning First Amendment free speech into a fetish? The reason I ask this question is because, after writing this sentence in a recent blog post — "Saying that a local legislator [with a conflict of interest] has a free speech right to vote is no different than saying that a local legi…

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…

Who should pay for a lack of government transparency, the officials keeping the secrets or the citizens who lack access to information? As it is now, in most jurisdictions, when a complaint is made under a freedom of information/sunshine (FOI) act or ordinance, either local government attorneys rep…

It's hard not to get excited about our new president when he says and does the right things when it comes to government ethics. In a memo to heads of executive departments and agencies, President Obama wrote: The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the fac…