<br>Term limits, the recession, a new kind of governmental district, and a drive to save and manage local parks have all contributed to a fascinating ethics situation in Pierce County, Washington, home of
Tacoma. Just last year I stayed in Pierce County and visited some of
these parks, so this story is a little more concrete to me than most I
write about.<br>
<br>

Here are three interesting conflict of interest case studies from
Tuesday's news.<br>
<br>
<b>Conflicts That Make You Act Differently, and Imaginative Resolutions</b><br>
According to <a href="http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_17455394&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Los Angeles <i>Daily Breeze</i></a>, a former Los Angeles
airport attorney, who reviewed the paperwork submitted by four

I'm going to keep showing how wrong the criminal
enforcement of ethics laws is until there is at least some sign of
movement away from it. This time I will do it by looking at two recent
proceedings in which serious penalties are involved, one criminal, the
other civil. The criminal penalties are about punishment, the civil
penalties about strengthening the ethics program and sending important
messages to other officials and employees.<br>
<br>

<b>Update:</b> August 26, 2011 (see below)<br>
<br>
At the same time there is talk of local government ethics reform in New
York State, the new attorney general has his own plan for local
government oversight. But it is all criminal in nature.<br>
<br>
His idea is to place public integrity officers in all thirteen <a href="http://www.ag.ny.gov/tour/tour.html&quot; target="”_blank”">attorney

Agency consolidation seems to be the buzzword this year. The
ostensible reason is to save money and use government resources more
efficiently. But is this really the principal reason?<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/TOB/S/2011SB-01009-R00-SB.htm&quot; target="”_blank”">A
bill has just been introduced in Connecticut</a> (my state) to place
the Office of

On January 28, the New York State Bar Association issued <a href="http://www.nysba.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&Template=/CM/ContentD…; target="”_blank”">a
report on government ethics reform in New York State</a>, which

<a href="http://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_aac…; target="”_blank”">An
article in the Bismarck (ND) <i>Tribune</i> this weekend</a> raised the issue
of when a board or commission member may withdraw from a matter in
which he feels he has a conflict, but where there is not a direct,
pecuniary interest. It turns out that, back in 2007, the Burleigh

You know you're doing a pretty poor job with government ethics when a
grand jury recommends that you be all but abolished. This is the case
with the Broward County School Board, according to <a href="http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/summaries/briefs/09/09-1910…; target="”_blank”">a
report
published on Frday</a>. It concludes, on p. 48:<ul>

Good news from Stamford. According to <a href="http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Board-of-Finance-chairman…; target="”_blank”">an

It's nice to be able to write about a difficult conflict situation that
is handled responsibly. It's unusual to be able to
write about a resolution where the local newspaper ends <a href="http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110219/OPINION11/102190314/Scot…; target="”_blank”">its editorial</a>
saying that the right thing has been done.<br>