Transparency, although not generally part of a local ethics code, is
central to a local government's ethics environment. A lack of transparency is both a
tell-tale sign that things are wrong, and an impediment to discussing
ethics issues and enforcing ethics violations. Unfortunately, ethics codes do have confidential information provisions, making it appear to those who do not understand government ethics that it is more important to hide confidential information than to let the sunshine in.<br>
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For any speech in debate in either house, no member shall be questioned
in any other place, except by the ethics commission as set forth 
in Article III, section 8 of this Constitution.<br>
<br>
No, this is not the text of a dream I had last night. This is the text
of <a href="http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText11/HouseText11/H5410.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">an

<a href="http://www.foioklahoma.org/OpenMeeting.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">Oklahoma's Open
Meeting Act,</a> which applies to local governments, ends with an
unusual provision. That provision is the only provision in the act that
deals with enforcement. It says that a willful violation of a provision
is a misdemeanor, and that someone guilty of a violation may be fined
up to $500 and/or imprisoned in a county jail for up to one year.<br>

<b>Unfunded Open Meetings Mandate in California</b><br>
Local governments' protests against unfunded state mandates might, in
this time of spending cuts, lead to the undermining of state ethics
laws that apply to local governments. The first sign of this is in
California, of course.<br>
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Local party committees have a great deal of power. Most of the people
we vote for have been selected and, where allowed by law, endorsed by
local party committees. Most of the people who are appointed to boards
and commmissions have also been approved by local party committees. In
most places, they determine who runs our communities.<br>
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One of the principal roles a political party has, at least in theory, is
assuring the public that its candidates have been screened in some

<b>More Costs of Not Having an Ethics Program</b><br>
Local officials are always complaining about the cost of an ethics
program, but not having an ethics program can be expensive and
extremely disruptive, and seem downright unfair.<br>
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It is worth noting that the respondent member of the Stamford board of
finance in the matter covered in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/not-withdrawing-responsible-way-deal-…; target="”_blank”">the
preceding blog post</a> raised both a
legislative immunity and a First Amendment free speech defense in his federal court

There are times when withdrawing from a vote is in fact not a
responsible act, but rather an act in one's own self-interest. In such
a case, a responsible official should participate and do what is in the
public interest.<br>
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According to <a href="http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_17368046&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in Friday's San Bernardino <i>Sun</i></a>, a San Bernardino city council member accused
of a conflict of interest resigned. He owned a towing company whose
major source of income is a contract with the city. The contract was

Despite the title of his essay "What Chance of Ethics in the Globalized
World of Consumers?" <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygmunt_Bauman&quot; target="”_blank”">Zygmunt Bauman</a>
has some valuable things to say that are relevant to government ethics