<br>
The Dallas ethics reforms described in a<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/dallas-ethics-reform-proposals-go-vot…; target="”_blank”"> recent blog post</a> were passed

New South Wales, Australia Premier Nathan Rees announces plain language reforms

In an interview recently he said: "I want plain English to become an essential part of how the public sector does its business, every bit as essential as a financial impact statement."

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<b>Update:</b> November 13, 2009 (see below)<br>
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Massachusetts has been very busy reforming its ethics laws. Most of the
reforms involve the increase of penalties, plugging loopholes, banning
gifts, and increasing the authority of the state ethics commission,
which has jurisdiction over local government officials and employees.

An interesting disagreement has arisen over what is required for a contract with a council member to constitute a conflict of
interest in California. According to <a href="http://www.thevalleychronicle.com/articles/2009/11/06/news/doc4af482c18…
article in the Valley <i>Chronicle</i></a>, the city of Hemet and the League
of California Cities disagree with a grand jury about whether a particular council

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/606">past blog posts</a>, I
have focused on the perjury charges against Baltimore mayor Sheila
Dixon that relate to her failure to disclose gifts from a developer who
was seeking tax breaks. But today, Dixon goes on trial for theft
involving gift cards allegedly given to the office of the city council
president, which she filled at the time, and used by her for personal
purchases.<br>
<br>

It's rare that the number of a <a href="http://www.nigeria-law.org/Criminal%20Code%20Act-Part%20VI%20%20to%20th…; target="_blank">fraud
provision</a> (419) is used as the chorus of a musical number, but this
is what happens in a song about government corruption in the new

One thing I've failed to do in this blog is sufficiently emphasize that
making
ethical decisions in government is not primarily about being a good,
ethical person, as most people seem to think. Essentially, it is the
same as making other
decisions. As <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/character-and-government-ethics&quot; target="_blank">I 
recently wrote</a>, "with effective training, in an

Many of the most difficult situations in government ethics involve
relationships that are not direct. For example, situations where the
company that provides a benefit does not do business with the local
government, but is owned by someone who owns another company that does
do business with or have an interest in legislation before the local
government (click <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/two-case-studies&quot; target="_blank">here </a>for

This week saw the opening of the trial of former New York state senate
majority leader Joseph Bruno for honest services fraud. According to
the assistant U.S. attorney presenting the
case, as <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=860586&quot; target="”_blank”">quoted
in the Albany <i>Times-Union</i></a>, although a
criminal trial, "this case is about conflicts of

It's Election Day 2009, so what better topic than a particularly slimy
instance of negative campaigning that attacks a candidate for seeking
an advisory opinion from the local ethics board, and actually following
it.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/68388382.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article</a> on kcrg.com this Sunday, a candidate's flier said that his