Should elected officials be held to a higher standard than ordinary
people? And if so, who should decide?<br>
<br>
These questions are central to a dispute that has been simmering for
two years in El Paso. According to <a href="http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_13536686&quot; target="”_blank”"><b>an article</b></a> in
the El Paso <i>Times</i> yesterday, the local district attorney would not

How can a lawyer responsibly deal with the following situation? A
former city attorney, he has been general counsel to the city's <a href="http://www.houstonsports.org/&quot; target="”_blank”"><b>sports authority</b></a>, which
oversees three major sports with three stadiums (and there's talk of a

What's an ethics commission to do? Even ethics commissions with teeth,
that is, with the ability to fine officials, rarely have a way of
actually collecting the fines. And if they do have a way of collecting
fines, it can make things look unfair.<br>
<br>
Take South Carolina, whose ethics commission has jurisdiction over

Yesterday, according to <a href="http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/10/now_that_don_hills_b…; target="”_blank”"><b>an
article</b></a> in the Dallas <i>Observer</i>, Don Hill, a former Dallas council
member, and four of his associates were found guilty of participating
in an incredible extortion plot relating to affordable housing in South

There are limits on the legislative immunity of local government
officials, according to a decision yesterday by the Baltimore Circuit
Court in the Dixon case (attached; see below), involving the mayor of
Baltimore at the time she was president of the city council.<br>
<br>

<br>
<b>Update</b>: December 2, 2009 (see below)<br>
<br>
I have often complained about how local government officials and
attorneys approach government ethics matters in an overly
technical manner. Well, ethics commission attorneys can do this, too.<br>
<br>
In terms of the language in ethics codes, I think the rule should be,
If an ordinary person does not read language a certain way, an ethics
commission should not read it that way. If the ethics commission feels

<b>When Is a Confidentiality Waiver Not a Confidentiality Waiver?</b><br>
It is common for ethics codes to allow respondents in ethics
proceedings to waive confidentiality and make the proceeding public.
This is what South Carolina governor Mark Sanford did, according to <a href="http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices-heads-s…; target="”_blank”"><b>an

Reading Garry Wills' <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Necessary-Evil-American-Distrust-Government/dp/06…; target="”_blank”">A
Necessary
Evil</a>: A History of American Distrust of Government</i> (1999)
made
me think about how anti- and pro-government feelings jive with views on
government ethics.<br>
<br>

The next round of memoranda have been filed by the parties to the Dixon
case, where the Baltimore mayor (though the case relates to her
activities as council president) is raising a defense of legislative
immunity in a criminal proceeding for perjury (relating to failure to
disclose) to keep out evidence that she knew that a developer who gave
her many gifts was involved in a development with the city.<br>
<br>
Her first defense of legislative immunity led to the indictment being

When I heard about the ACORN sting, when two people posing as
pimp and prostitute asked for help in getting a loan to open a brothel,
I thought: what would happen if a local government official and a prostitute
visited a local government attorney to ask for help in giving the prostitute a
contract, so that the local government, rather than the
official, could pay for her services?<br>
<br>
One big difference is that it is not legal to open a brothel, but it