Advisory Opinions

In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/nyregion/in-calm-of-a-nature-reserve-…; target="”_blank”">a
New York <i>Times</i> column today</a>, Michael Powell has unearthed an
ugly-looking government ethics situation in New Jersey involving apparent misuse of government ethics authority to win a vote.<br>
<br>

The role of the city or county attorney in an ethics program
continues to be a major bone of contention, despite the fact that
government ethics professionals generally take the position that the
city or county attorney should not be involved in an ethics program.<br>
<br>
The latest locale for this dispute is Jefferson Parish, a suburb of

2013 was not a particularly good year for government ethics. This
blog started out by noting how little Tennessee's model code had
done for its municipalities' ethics programs. Early-year hopes for
improvement of New Jersey's terrible state local government ethics
program were dashed by the program's October request to renew its
rules without any changes whatsoever.<br>
<br>

In 2008, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine established a special task
force to take a look at the state's local government ethics program.
In September 2010, the task force filed a report that recommended
substantial changes to the program (attached; see below). Nothing
was done.<br>
<br>
The state's local government ethics rules were set to expire in September of

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/many-reasons-why-city-or-county-attor…; target="”_blank”">a
blog post last week</a>, I listed the many reasons why city and
county attorneys should not be providing ethics advice. One of those
reasons was that "legal advice and ethics advice require different
skill sets." But I limited this part of my analysis to saying
that "A legal

<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/29/v-fullstory/3787585/miami-lawmake…; target="”_blank”">A
recent Miami <i>Herald</i> article</a> describes a case that embodies a number of important government ethics issues, including the conflict issues

According to <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/11/whats_in_a_name_for_a_st…; target="”_blank”">an

In early 2009, I started out <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/638&quot; target="”_blank”">a blog post</a>, "Type
'ethics' into the search line at utah.gov, and all that comes up
is Archery Ethics Course Online." That is no longer true. In fact,
the state legislature not only has an ethics commission, it even
passed a local ethics commission act. And in response to

Ethics commissions are often stuck with one or more ethics
provisions that they are know are, in some ways, irresponsible. They
can recommend amendments to the provisions, but the legislative body
is free to ignore such recommendations.<br>
<br>
If this happens, an EC is not always powerless. It can often promulgate a
regulation that can interpret the language in a provision, or
provide exemptions, so that the provision is more responsible. The
Massachusetts EC, which has jurisdiction over local officials, has

In many jurisdictions, lawyers have sought to be excluded from
ethics program jurisdiction, arguing that their conduct is regulated
by their state's attorney disciplinary process. Recently, in Louisiana,
other professionals have sought to be excluded from the state ethics
program's jurisdiction (which includes local officials) pursuant to
a different argument.<br>
<br>
The issue is, When do employees of a private company become government
employees for purposes of ethics program jurisdiction over them?<br>