I begin the "Intent" section of my book <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/ethics%20book&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Local Government Ethics Programs</i></a> by
noting that, "One of the distinguishing aspects of government ethics
is the fact that it does not deal with or require a showing of
intent, willfulness, knowledge, or motive."<br>
<br>
The next sentence is, "This is yet another reason why the criminal

In this, the third blog post on the Colorado ethics commission
situation, I would like to look at the problems that can arise from
placing an ethics code in a constitutional document, either a
charter or, as in the Colorado case, the state constitution.<br>
<br>
It is an unfortunate fact that, in many jurisdictions, legislators
are so opposed to the creation of an effective government ethics
program that the task of ethics reform can be accomplished only via
charter revision or a referendum. In other instances, ethics

The Colorado ethics commission matter that I discussed in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/total-gift-bans-and-legal-defense-fun…; target="”_blank”">my
last blog post</a> points to yet another reason why ethics
commissions must have their own counsel, and a sufficient budget to
pay that counsel.<br>
<br>

A February draft advisory opinion from the <a href="http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/DPA-IEC/IEC/1208597599325&quot; target="”_blank”">Colorado

Most of George Frederickson's lecture, "<a href="http://academic.udayton.edu/richardghere/MPA%20524/2011%20course/Freder…; target="”_blank”">Searching for Virtue in the Public Life: Revisiting the Vulgar Ethics Thesis</a>," involves what he calls "the modern extended state," the "vast public
sea" in which governments float. This public sea includes

After reading <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/bridging-gulf-between-administrative-…; target="”_blank”">my recent blog post about bridging the gulf between administrative
and government ethics</a>, one of the great scholars of public
administration, George Frederickson, sent me a copy of a 2009
lecture of his, which appeared in 2010 in the journal <i>Public

Yesterday, <a href="http://www.kcet.org/news/ballotbrief/campaign-finance/los-angeles-2013-…; target="”_blank”">Los
Angeles' KCET-TV put up a database on it website</a> to show who's
giving to candidates in the current city and school board elections. You can see which city officials, business
people, and others are giving, who's getting contributions from

What is the best way to prevent high-level officials from
participating in matters involving departments or agencies where
their close family members are employed, without doing this
unreasonably, that is, excluding situations where the family members
have no influence and will receive no benefits?<br>
<br>
This is the question that has been raised in Baltimore by council

“It’s much to-do about not much. I’m trying to run a city, and
you’re worried about people’s relationships?” These are the words of
Mount Vernon, NY mayor Ernest Davis, who is the subject of IRS and
FBI investigations, and now an investigation by the city's ethics
board, according to <a href="http://www.lohud.com/article/20130227/NEWS02/302270055/Mount-Vernon-Eth…; target="”_blank”">an

The Los Angeles mayoral race has unearthed some conflict of interest
allegations that are worth a look. There are three interesting
issues. One, how much stock ownership in a public company is required to give rise to a conflict? Two, what about ownership of a competitor?
And three, what if you don't know a public company whose
stock you own is involved in a matter before you?<br>
<br>