Can a local ethics commission be lobbied? It's conceivable, especially with respect to recommendations for ethics reform. It is
important for an ethics commission to have an ethics code provision
or regulation that prohibits ex parte communications relating to any
proceeding. But with respect to ethics reform recommendations, the public's input is important, and there would seem to be no
reason why a registered lobbyist shouldn't be able to put in her two

This fourth blog post on Philip Zimbardo's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lucifer-Effect-Understanding-Good-People/dp/08129…; target="”_blank”"><b>The

Lucifer Effect</b></a> is a miscellany of various ideas in the book
that have relevance to local government ethics.<br>
<br>

This third blog post on Philip Zimbardo's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lucifer-Effect-Understanding-Good-People/dp/08129…; target="”_blank”"><b>The

This second blog post on Philip Zimbardo's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lucifer-Effect-Understanding-Good-People/dp/08129…; target="”_blank”"><b>The

A year and a half ago, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/moral-clarity-iii-ethics-environments…; target="”_blank”">a

One thing jumped out at me from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/science/earth/04pipeline.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article on the front page of the New York <i>Times</i> today</a> that
deals with a common government ethics situation. The situation
involves a lobbyist hired because he had a close personal and
professional relationship with the head of a department that had to

Yet another brief has been filed in the <i>Carrigan v. Commission on
Ethics of the State of Nevada</i> case, this time <a href="http://caseinfo.nvsupremecourt.us/document/view.do?csNameID=19690&csIID…; target="”_blank”">the EC's supplemental brief on remand to the Nevada Supreme Court</a>.<br>
<br>

What can be done when a public agency that gives gifts to public officials
destroys its gift records?<br>
<br>
This question arises from <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/north-fulton/records-erased-after-council-11863…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Atlanta <i>Journal-Constitution</i> last week</a> about
the Alpharetta (GA) Convention and Visitors Bureau, an independent

<b>Legal Disciplinary Proceeding as Ethics Enforcement Forum</b><br>
Occasionally, government ethics enforcement spills out from ethics
and criminal proceedings into other types of proceeding. Since Maricopa County's officials have managed to turn
ethics and criminal enforcement into a form of internecine warfare, the state's
lawyer disciplinary program has gotten into the action.<br>
<br>

Another serious problem posed by making a legislative immunity defense in the local
government ethics context can be seen from reading <a href="http://boardofreps.org/committees/legrules/2011/items/lr28033/lr28033_s…; target="”_blank”">the recommendation of the investigating panel of the Stamford (CT) board of ethics.</a> In the section that provides reasons for dismissal of a complaint brought against a