Blogs

It should be heartening to announce that the head of an important good government organization has been appointed to the North Carolina Ethics Commission. But sadly, it is not.

Francis X. De Luca is the president of the Civitas Institute, which has taken strong stands for improving North Carolina's state ethics program. He is, therefore, someone who should understand government ethics and act to improve the program from...

Maryland has a rule that local ethics ordinances must require the disclosure of all an elected official's real property, stocks, and bonds. According to an article in the Carroll County Times, the Mount Airy council keeps passing an ethics ordinance that requires the disclosure only of real property in Mount Airy and...

Many people think that lawyers make the best ethics commission members. In fact, many ethics codes require that at least some members of an ethics commission be lawyers.

However, lawyers are the individuals most likely to have relationships and obligations that conflict with the obligations they have as EC members. For example, they often have relationships with elected officials, who are often lawyers themselves, as well as with clients who seek special benefits from the local...

A Bakersfield Californian editorial on Saturday points out the kinds of conflict situation that arise when, to save money, a coroner office is brought into a sheriff or police department office.

A Hartford Courant editorial on Friday asked a question that is not asked enough, Why delay an ethics investigation until a criminal investigation is complete? Another such question that is not asked enough is, Why delay an ethics proceeding until a criminal proceeding is complete?

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A recent post on Philadelphia's Parents United for Public Education blog raises an issue that pulls together FOI and confidential information issues. Entitled "Is 'right to know' the new 'pay to play'?", the post is about Parents United's attempt to make public a report that contains a list of Philadelphia schools recommended for closure and the criteria used for developing the list...