Yesterday, my attention was drawn to a new organization called
Foundation for Ethics in Public Service, Inc., which operates as the
website <a href="http://www.reportpubliccorruption.org&quot; target="”_blank”">www.reportpubliccorruption.org</a&gt;.
On February 11, its executive director, Leslie W. Merritt, Jr., a

I've been meaning for a long time to take a long second look at the <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/full-text-model-ethics-code&quot; target="”_blank”">City
Ethics Model Code</a> provision on the <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/full-text-model-ethics-code#0.1_TOC42…; target="”_blank”">revolving

<b>Update:</b> June 7, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
There is some very good news out of Rhode Island, even if it is over a
month old. The house majority leader, <a href="http://www.projo.com/news/content/House_Speaker_elected__02-12-10_5HHE4…; target="”_blank”">now

When is a gift a campaign contribution? This issue has been raised in
the trial of a Manhattan surrogate court judge, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/nyregion/20anderson.htm&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's New York <i>Times</i></a>.<br>
<br>

Here are two interesting situations where it is not clear what an
ethics commission's role and authority are. One in Baltimore, the other in Philadelphia.<br>
<br>

<b>Update:</b> March 29, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
It is a common problem in government ethics to confuse law and ethics.
It is a more unusual problem to confuse law and facts. But this appears
to be a problem in La Crosse (WI; pop. 51,000), according to <a href="http://www.lacrossetribune.com/news/article_cca5c1ba-3181-11df-a411-001…; target="”_blank”">an

Have you ever wondered how a local government department head can
afford to live like a king on a $100,000 salary?<br>
<br>
This is what people are wondering in South Africa, where union leaders are
calling for "lifestyle audits" of all senior government officials in
order to find out who is on the take, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/world/africa/17zuma.html">an

I think it's important to remind ourselves about the alternative
government and economic system that exists in much of the world (and partially in islands throughout the U.S.) and
which government ethics programs are intended to protect us from.
That system was described succinctly in <a href="http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1566186…; target="”_blank”">an

<b>The Partisanship of Ethics</b><br>
The first pleasant surprise involves a<a href="http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-to-do-with-our-corrupt-…; target="”_blank”">
blogger (Advance Indiana) who is disgusted</a> with his own party's
unethical conduct in his city/county, Indianapolis/Marion County. A
native of Illinois, he compares it to Chicago, and he notes that his

<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/surprise-philadelphia-council-drafts-…; target="”_blank”">Philadelphia</a>,
<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/not-much-get-excited-about-baltimores…; target="”_blank”">Baltimore</a>,
and