Disclosure

Have you ever wondered how a local government department head can
afford to live like a king on a $100,000 salary?<br>
<br>
This is what people are wondering in South Africa, where union leaders are
calling for "lifestyle audits" of all senior government officials in
order to find out who is on the take, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/world/africa/17zuma.html">an

<a href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20100303_Report__S__Jersey_auth…; target="”_blank”">An
article
in yesterday's Philadelphia <i>Inquirer</i></a> says that the state's

If citizens could once in their lives be a juror in a government ethics
trial, we would have incredible ethics laws. This is the conclusion one
comes to after reading, in <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=880165&quot; target="”_blank”">an

<b>Update:</b> November 20, 2009 (see below)<br>
<br>
The latest news from the federal trial of former New York state senate
majority leader Joseph Bruno's is sadly not surprising. According to an
<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jPxZbZxMboqXl0tLHNpTF…; target="”_blank”">Associated
Press article</a> yesterday, former senate legal counsel told Bruno to

New South Wales, Australia Premier Nathan Rees announces plain language reforms

In an interview recently he said: "I want plain English to become an essential part of how the public sector does its business, every bit as essential as a financial impact statement."

It's always nice to see politicians provide evidence for the argument
that ethics self-regulation doesn't work, but it's rare for it to
happen in so public a way as occurred yesterday. According to <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_45/news/39780-1.html">an
article in Roll Call</a>, Rep. John Carter (R-TX), "the point man for
Republicans seeking to strip Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel

According to <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20090827/NEWS06/90827036/1008/Cox-backing-…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Detroit <i>Free Press</i></a>, Michigan's Attorney General is
seeking stronger financial and gift disclosure requirements for state
officials, and he wants these requirements to apply to local officials,

<b>Update below</b> (Aug. 20, 2009)<br>
Is the value of a gift given to a government official its fair market
value or what the official gets out of it? For example, if you give an
official a sportscar worth $40,000 and he only drives it ten times a
year, is its value $40,000 or the cost of renting a car ten times a
year? If you give an official a ticket to a football game and she leaves
after the first half, is the value half the ticket or its full price?<br>
<br>

Thanks to <a href="http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2009/07/houston-city-council-ethics-forms-…; target="”_blank”">Texas
Watchdog</a>, "an independent, nonpartisan entity [that] serves as a
government watchdog and training center
where reporters, bloggers and activists of any stripe learn how to
uncover waste, fraud and corruption in state and local governments,"

Recently, the Connecticut Task Force on Municipal Ethics discussed <a href="http://www.cga.ct.gov/gae/METF/DRAFT%202008%20Muni%20Ethics%20Task%20Fo…; target="”_blank”">a
draft report</a>. Neither in the report, nor in <a href="http://www.cga.ct.gov/gae/METF/doc/022009TASKFORCE.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">the