Model Code

I've been meaning for a long time to take a long second look at the City Ethics Model Code provision on the revolving door that many officials walk through between government and firms that do business with government. It's a complex matter, and local governments as well as states with jurisdiction…

The biggest thing missing from ethics codes is lying. Everyone agrees that a government official or employee who lies lacks integrity, but ethics codes almost never prohibit this. It isn't that lying is okay, it's just very hard to enforce. Defending a lie leads to more lies and other forms of dish…

State or local ethics laws, state or local ethics training, state or local disclosure forms, state or local ethics enforcement? This is probably the biggest issue in local government ethics. And it's a very complicated one, which I have only rarely dealt with. There are good (and bad) arguments on …

Type "ethics" into the search line at utah.gov, and all that comes up is Archery Ethics Course Online. In response to what are referred to in Utah as last year's "ethics wars," a new legislative ethics bill has been drafted. What is interesting for local government ethics is how focused the new bil…

Sometimes, those who write or amend local government ethics codes forget to make it clear exactly who is covered by an ethics code. Sometimes there is discussion about who should have to file annual disclosure statements, and sometimes there is discussion about whether volunteers should be covered.…