Advisory Opinions

Max H. Bazerman and Ann
E. Tenbrunsel, the authors of the new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Spots-Whats-Right-about/dp/0691147507&quot; target="”_blank”">Blind
Spots:
Why
We
Fail
to
Do
What's
Right and What to Do about It</a> (Princeton University
Press), point out that egocentrism is in our nature. We naturally see

Although we have more trouble seeing our own unethical behavior than we
do seeing others' unethical behavior, Max H. Bazerman and Ann
E. Tenbrunsel, the authors of the new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Spots-Whats-Right-about/dp/0691147507&quot; target="”_blank”">Blind
Spots:
Why
We
Fail
to
Do
What's Right and What to Do about It</a>, have found that

How important is ethics training? According to Justice Ginsburg's
dissent in <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-571.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">Connick
v. Thompson</a>, a 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on
March 29, it is the difference between life and death.<br>
<br>

Incompatible offices is a form of conflict I have not dealt with in
this blog. A good occasion to do this is <a href="http://www.latimes.com/media/acrobat/2010-12/58022849.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">a
recent California attorney general's opinion</a> interpreting the
state's 2005 incompatible offices statute, which applies to local and state

In his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Search-Nonviolent-Future-Ourselves-Families/dp/19…; target="”_blank”">The
Search
for
a
Nonviolent
Future</a>, Michael N. Nagler wrote, "Anyone who plucks up
the courage to offer an
opponent a way out of their conflict can find herself or himself

<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/confidentiality-after-officials-resig…; target="”_blank”">My
last blog post</a> raised an interesting question. When an annual
financial disclosure form (or, in some jurisdictions a special

<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

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

<b>Update:</b> December 14, 2010 (see below):<br>
<br>
One thing I learned at the COGEL conference last week is that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darleen_Druyun&quot; target="”_blank”">Darleen
Druyun</a>, the infamous Air Force procurement officer who favored Boeing
before taking a job with it, had been given ethics advice on six
occasions and ignored it.<br>
<br>

Teachers and teachers' family members seem to be just the sort of
people to run for school boards. They have either the expertise and/or
the interest in education. But with them come conflicts of interest,
and these can cast doubt on what they're doing there in the first place.<br>
<br>
Teachers in the particular school district generally can't run for
school board seats, but many teachers don't live in the districts where
they teach. This prohibition often applies to their spouses as well, but not to