Conflicts

Toward the end of <a href="http://thefloridachannel.org/video/11413-joint-legislative-auditing-com…; target="”_blank”">a
video of the November 4 meeting of the Florida
Joint Legislative Auditing Committee</a>, the committee vice-chair
says that the testimony he heard was very "troubling." I felt the

A colleague asked me recently about the argument that withdrawal
from participation by a legislator, who cannot delegate to someone
else, "disenfranchises" that legislator's constituents. Since
disenfranchisement is a terrible thing, the argument goes,
legislators cannot be asked to withdraw from participation, but only
to disclose their conflicts.<br>
<br>

In my book Local Government Ethics Programs, I have argued for the language of "benefit" instead of the language of "interest." (for some of the reasons why, click here and search for "terminology"). When a colleague asked me for a list of the jurisdictions that do, in fact, use the language of "benefit," I did some eye-opening research.

Here is an interesting government ethics argument. According to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/17/clive-palmer-questions-con…; target="”_blank”">a
Lenore Taylor column in the <i>Guardian</i></a> this week, mining
billionaire Clive Palmer, who is running for a seat in the
Australian parliament, says that he cannot have a conflict of

One of the most frequent mistakes in the drafting of a government
ethics code is prohibiting officials from <i>having</i> conflicts of
interest. There is nothing wrong with an official <i>having</i> a conflict
of interest. There is only something wrong with an official <i>creating</i>
a conflict or failing to deal responsibly with a pre-existing

<h4>"[Standard & Poor's's ratings have always been] uninfluenced by
conflicts of interest."</h4><br>

One of the worst times to create a conflict of interest is in the
midst of labor negotiations. This is what has happened recently in
San Francisco, where Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is negotiating
contracts with its three unions. There was a short strike in July,
and now there are negotiations with an August 4 deadline.<br>
<br>
The conflict involves the company for which BART's labor negotiator works,
which is itself a large transportation company, specializing in bus

Many people believe that conflicts of interest are in and of
themselves bad, and that government ethics laws should prevent those
with conflicts of interest from becoming public servants. Many
people believe that government ethics is about being good or bad.
When the two come together in one person and one speech, the result can be fireworks.<br>
<br>

People (including government officials) usually talk about conflict
situations as if they involved the public (represented by do-good
ethics types) trying to get public servants (who are represented as
corrupt) to sacrifice either their family, friends, or business
opportunities or their duty to do their jobs as representatives or
officials.<br>
<br>
This is sad, because this leads people to ignore the other side to conflict situations:  the effect living and dealing

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/excellent-report-recommending-ethics-…; target="”_blank”">a
blog post two weeks ago</a>, I welcomed an excellent, although
sketchy, set of recommendations by a national law firm that amounted