This week the <a href="http://cogel.org/&quot; target="”_blank”">Council on Governmental Ethics Laws</a> (COGEL) met in Washington,
D.C. and, as usual, I learned about a lot of cases and matters I didn't
know about. I will be sharing some of the more
important of my new revelations in blog posts over the next couple of
weeks.<br>
<br>

The editorial today in the Jacksonville Times-Union is all about the recent legislation designed to improve the structure of the ethics and anti-corruption program for the city of Jacksonville.

Title: <b>City ethics: The right direction</b>
Source URL: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/editorials/2010-12-03/story/city-ethics…

Many people take a character approach to government ethics. That is,
they see government ethics as a matter of integrity, and ethics training as a
matter of improving an individual's character.<br>
<br>
But the aspect of character most important to ethics is not goodness,
honesty, or integrity. It is empathy, as defined by President Obama and
discussed in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/761&quot; target="”_blank”">a 2009 blog

According to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/AP5e51ce7f65184273a8b61f3e3ad7732e.html&q…; target="”_blank”">an
Associated
Press article yesterday</a>, a New York City school principal
"didn't think there was a conflict of interest because there was no
exchange of money."<br>
<br>

Sensational local government ethics news, such as scandals, is online in minutes. Ordinary local government ethics
news, such as the appointment of a new executive director or general counsel, is covered
more slowly, if at all.<br>
<br>
For example, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission announced via <a href="http://ethics.lacity.org/pdf/pressrelease/press_111010_Ethics_Commissio…; target="”_blank”">press

<br>After being convicted of money laundering for the purpose of illegally
giving corporate money to Texas legislative candidates last week, Tom
Delay said,
"This is an abuse of power. It’s a miscarriage of justice. I still
maintain my innocence. The criminalization of politics undermines our
very system and I’m very disappointed in the outcome."<br>
<br>
I too have, on several occasions, criticized the criminalization of
government ethics. But are Delay and I talking about the same thing?<br>

<b>Problematic Development</b><br>
According to <a href="http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101129/OPINION03/11290301&quot; target="”_blank”">Harry
Themal's column in yesterday's <i>News Journal</i></a>,
the newly elected county executive of New Castle County (DE) wants to
review government processes "top-to-bottom." There is just one catch.

Investigations of purported ethics violations by the Middlesex County
(MA) sheriff apparently led to his suicide on Saturday. According to <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/11/28/even…; target="”_blank”">a
Boston
<i>Globe</i> chronology</a>, the sheriff filed papers for retirement on

Two important issues arise from a story about a competitive bid for a
concrete contract for an arena in Louisville which, according to <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20101127/OPINION01/311270025&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's Louisville <i>Courier-Journal</i></a>, was won by a
company solely owned by a member of the state task force that chose the

<br><br>There's an instructive local government ethics situation in the 2008
French film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1068646/&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>The Class</i>
(Entre les murs)</a>, which I watched yesterday
evening. A teenage student is being given a disciplinary hearing at his
public high school in Paris after accidentally hitting a girl with his
bag and walking
out of his class. His teacher