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

One of the best descriptions of an unethical environment in a
government agency can be found in <a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/opinion/LOGLISCI_FINAL.pdf&qu…; target="”_blank”">the
two-page statement that followed the guilty plea of David Loglisci</a>,
the former chief investment officer for the New York state pension fund.<br>
<br>

It's been four months since <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/694&quot; target="”_blank”">my latest update</a> on San
Bernardino County's failure to follow <a href="http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/grandjury/pdf/Report0809/20090701_gj…; target="”_blank”">grand

Unions are paid for by union members, business associations are paid
for by businesses, but local government associations are paid for by
taxpayers, not by local governments. And yet while unions represent
members, and business associations represent businesses, local government
associations represent local governments. This setup is asking for trouble.<br>
<br>

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/indirect-interests-and-freedom-speech…; target="”_blank”">my previous blog post</a>, the issue arose of voiding a planning and
zoning commission's approval of a permit because one of the commission
members had a conflict of interest. Connecticut law automatically
invalidates the

An unpublished Connecticut Superior Court
opinion takes an odd approach to a conflict of interest charge against
a member
of a zoning commission in the small town of Pomfret (pop. 4,000). Not
only is it odd, but it could very well be unconstitutional, as it
partly bases
its decision on whether individuals have spoken out for or against a
matter before the zoning commission. My thanks go to Patricia Salkin,
who

When a major newspaper's editorial on a city council's handling of an
important ethics issue begins with "Sneaky.
Real sneaky." it's something worth sharing with those interested in
local government ethics.<br>
<br>