It is assumed in government ethics enforcement that an official who
mishandles a conflict situation is solely responsible for her
misconduct. This assumption is rarely questioned. The official might
have received no training, or poor training. The official might not
have been encouraged to seek advice; in fact, she might not have had
access to professional ethics advice from anyone, or only from a
city attorney who was an important player from the other political
party. The official might not have been required to disclose her

According to <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Regretful-DiGiovann…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the San Antonio <i>Express-News</i> this week</a>, San
Antonio's deputy city manager is concerned about whether he mishandled a conflict situation. It involved his
participation on a bid review committee for a $300 million contract

According to <a href="http://www.newschannel5.com/story/19649529/conflict-of-interest-questio…; target="”_blank”">an
investigative article on Nashville's WTVF-TV site yesterday
evening</a>, a former property assessor had help from a
developer in disposing of her home and buying one from the
developer, and also undervalued nine of the developer's properties by a

An interesting case in Iowa raises questions about the purposes behind post-employment, or "revolving door," provisions, including whom they are
supposed to protect and why.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://muscatinejournal.com/news/local/gpc-pushes-back-and-so-does-its-…; target="”_blank”">an

<br>Read all about it! Local government ethics becomes a presidential
campaign issue! Yes, you heard that right. <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57520009-503544/romney-teacher-c…; target="”_blank”">According
to CBS News</a>, this very day presidential candidate Mitt Romney
said "the person sitting across the table from [a teachers union]

The reason I haven't written about George Anderson is that he has
done too much, and been too controversial, for me to get a handle on him. In other words, laziness. He
has been an ethics and non-ethics watchdog in Georgia for many years, filing
numerous ethics and other sorts of complaints both at the state and at the local level. He
heads an organization called Ethics in Government, which does not
seem to have a website.<br>
<br>
When an ethics watchdog organization was founded primarily, it

This is the first of a series of looks at the ethics programs of
smaller cities, towns, and counties. These local governments have
the resources to create an independent, comprehensive ethics
program, but they rarely do. It is valuable to look at both the good ideas and the bad ideas
in the programs they have chosen to create.<br>
<br>
I will start with <a href="http://www.leaguecity.com/&quot; target="”_blank”">League City,

<h4>“[With respect to ethics,] I always say the law is the floor, not
the ceiling.”</h4><br>
—Judy Nadler, senior fellow in government ethics at the
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, and
author of <a href="http://www.scu.edu/ethics-center/ethicsblog/herhonor.cfm">the

According to <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-09-12/news/os-malcom-thompson-…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Orlando <i>Sentinel</i></a> last week, the Florida
Commission on Ethics found probable cause that the Osceola County
Clerk of the Court "[used] his position to intimidate [his office's]

It took a law student doing a summer job, but there is finally confirmation of what I
have been saying for a long time:  normal people do not
understand the word "interest" as it is commonly used by lawyers in
the government ethics context. It was for this reason that I rarely
use the word "interest" in my book <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/ethics%20book&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Local Government Ethics Programs</i></a>.<br>