Last September, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/palm-beach-county-business-coalition-…; target="”_blank”">a
blog post</a> about an ethics initiative in Palm Beach County, Florida.
A response to numerous scandals, it featured an ethics pledge,
primarily for government officials, and a successful attempt to get an
independent ethics commission and inspector general for the county

This is a follow-up to yesterday's blog post on ethics fines. This
week, I've been reading Karen
Pryor's bible on positive training, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Shoot-Dog-Teaching-Training/dp/1860542387/re…; target="”_blank”"><i>Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of
Teaching and Training</i></a> (Bantam, 1999).<br>
<br>

When it comes to ethics fines, it's hard to satisfy anyone. Fines
are usually too large or too small, depending on whom you ask. No one likes to be punished, and no one likes the guilty to get off easy. So what is an ethics
commission to do?<br>
<br>
This week there have been two newspaper articles featuring opposite
ends of the fine spectrum.<br>
<br>

According to <a href="http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-05-03/story/push-toughened-lobb…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Jacksonville <i>Times-Union</i></a> this week, former
Jacksonville council member and current lobbyist Ginny Myrick said, in
response to lobbying reforms suggested by Jacksonville ethics officer,
and City Ethics' president, Carla Miller, that (not exact words) "it is

Back in January, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/government-employees-and-class-except…; target="”_blank”">I
wrote about</a> the California Supreme Court's decision in a criminal
conflict of interest prosecution against members of a San Diego pension
board. In that post, I wrote about how to solve the problem that led to the case's dismissal: local government

<b>Update:</b> May 12, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-ethics-reform-broward-20100504,0,4517356…; target="”_blank”">an
article in Tuesday's <i>Sun-Sentinel<i></a>, Broward County (FL) Commissioner Ilene

Failure to disclose or to recuse oneself, even when it is not legally
required, can lead to some big headaches, as can be seen in Portland,
OR, where a city commissioner voted on a grant to a non-profit
organization where his girlfriend works. Also interesting in this case
is the commissioner's use of personal ethics rather than professional,
government ethics in making his judgment calls.<br>
<br>

According to <a href="http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2010/05/03/news/doc4bdf1580b069e…; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's <i>Morning Journal</i>,</a> the Law Director of Lorain,
OH (a city of 70,000), advising a council member, said, “If his
employer had a direct financial interest, he would have a conflict. But
it does not.”<br>
<br>

Many government lawyers feel that the rules of professional conduct are
sufficient to keep them ethical. Because of this, they sometimes seek
to be excluded from an ethics commission's jurisdiction (see a <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/lawyer-exceptions-and-preferential-tr…; target="”_blank”">recent
blog post</a>) and more often argue that the attorney discipline system

San Francisco's <a href="http://www.sfethics.org/ethics/2011/01/san-francisco-campaign-and-gover…; target="”_blank”">Conflict
of Interest code</a> 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.<br>
<ul>
§3.210. Voting on Own Character or Conduct.<br>