Election time can be a good time for local government ethics. Good
government candidates spout all sorts of interesting ideas about
ethics independence, budgeting, transparency, and the like, which
are rarely heard between elections.<br>
<br>
Take, for example, Leland Yee, who is running for mayor of San
Francisco. His <a href="http://www.lelandyee.com/issues/plan-for-an-independent-city-hall/&quot; target="”_blank”">Plan

<a href="http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110731/NEWS02/107310355/How-Chr…; target="”_blank”">A
very lengthy article in yesterday's <i>News Journal</i></a> looks at the
history of relations between Delaware legislators and Christopher
Tigani, formerly the top executive with Delaware's top liquor
distributor. The article provides an instructive look at corporate and personal

Mayor Rahm Emanuel continues to make small government ethics improvements
in Chicago. Yesterday, <a href="http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/mayor/Press%20Room/…; target="”_blank”">according
to a city press release</a>, the council passed five ethics
reforms, all but one of them involving lobbyists. The principal

It's not every day that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/nyregion/political-links-seen-behind-…; target="”_blank”">an
article about an insufficiently bid county contract</a> appears on the
front page of a major newspaper, but that's what happened today with
the New York <i>Times</i>.<br>
<br>

It is sometimes hard to see what campaign finance has to do with
government ethics, that is, conflicts of interest. Campaign finance
involves candidates getting elected, while conflicts of interest
have to do with decisions made by elected officials. What they have in common is that both
areas are intended to help officials act for the public interest rather
than their own.<br>
<br>
Two recent judicial decisions show how far campaign finance law has
been moving away from government ethics law. Why? Because the First Amendment

<br><br><br>This is the second of two posts looking at Kathryn Schulz's excellent book, <b><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5OCnB78Bsp0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=be…; target="”_blank”">Being
Wrong:

<br>
<br>
It's arguable that a bigger problem than unethical conduct in local
government is the way local officials respond to allegations of

Monday evening, I learned about the serious consequences that
can result from not giving ethics commission members a clear
understanding of what government ethics is, and what it is not.<br>
<br>
The occasion was the consideration by the Democracy Fund board, which
oversees the public campaign financing program in New Haven, of a
possible violation of the program's ordinance and regulations.<br>
<br>
I am the Democracy Fund Administrator. Focused on the topics before the

Sometimes, conflicts are built right into ethics laws, partly because
it is in the political interest of those with conflicts, and partly
because they don't even view those laws as ethics laws.<br>
<br>
A good example of this is the Connecticut law (<a href="http://search.cga.state.ct.us/dtsearch_pub_statutes.html&quot; target="”_blank”">CGS
§9-623</a>) that places enforcement of municipal campaign finance

<a href="http://sogweb.sog.unc.edu/blogs/localgovt/?p=5018&quot; target="”_blank”">A post
yesterday in Coates' Canons: NC Local Government Law Blog </a>raises
an interesting issue about the situation of a local government
candidate who has an interest in a contract with the local government
which, by NC law, is prohibited not for candidates, but for a winning
candidate the day he or she takes office. This provides a good occasion