Enforcement/Penalties

<h4>“We have a system that only catches morons.”</h4><br>

I begin the "Intent" section of my book <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/ethics%20book&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Local Government Ethics Programs</i></a> by
noting that, "One of the distinguishing aspects of government ethics
is the fact that it does not deal with or require a showing of
intent, willfulness, knowledge, or motive."<br>
<br>
The next sentence is, "This is yet another reason why the criminal

What is the worst thing a government official can do when a conflict
situation becomes public? Is it worse to misrepresent the law, to
make accusations against those making the conflict situation public,
or to ignore the situation and hope nobody notices?<br>
<br>
New York governor Andrew Cuomo has done all of the above with
respect to the exposure of a secret gift of $2 million by an association of gambling
companies to a 501(c)(4) organization closely associated with the

Check out <a href="http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/gov-scandals-spur-action-on-pension…; target="”_blank”">a
valuable essay on pension forfeiture</a> by Dylan Scott, which was
posted on the Governing website in February. The essay looks at the
various arguments for and against pension forfeiture, looks at how
these laws come about (after scandals), and provides information

A few issues arise in the case of a Pennsylvania state senator who
reached a settlement this week with the state's ethics commission
that included a fine of $21,000, according to <a href="http://www.timesherald.com/article/20120426/NEWS03/120429615/-1/news&qu…; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's Montgomery County <i>Times Herald</i></a>.<br>
<br>

At the Institutional Corruption conference sponsored by Harvard's Safra Ethics Center last Saturday, Ann Tenbrunsel, co-author of <i>Blind Spots</i> (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/search/node/blind%20spots&quot; target="”_blank”">my blog
posts on this book</a>), noted that people act not only against
what is written in ethics codes, but also against their own values.

The way elected officials often think about government ethics
enforcement, it's almost as if they weren't being investigated and given
a hearing, but were being stoned. And in a certain sense, that is what
is happening.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/science/05angier.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in the New York <i>Times</i> last week</a>, David Sloan Wilson, an

On Sunday, the New York <i>Times</i> ran <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/nyregion/13homes.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article based on a long-term investigation</a> of group homes for the
developmentally disabled in New York state. It found that "in hundreds
of cases reviewed by The Times, employees who sexually abused, beat or
taunted residents were rarely fired, even after repeated offenses and,

It appeared to be a sign of sheer desperation when former Illinois
governor Rod Blagojevich's attorney, in his closing argument last week,
used as a defense the fact that Blagojevich isn't "the sharpest knife
in the drawer."<br>
<br>
But actually this is a real issue, at least in government ethics. It is
often hard to tell the difference between incompetence and misuse of
office. Take local government attorneys, for example. Many of them
consciously let

<br>
Cheryl Forchilli, chair of the <a href="http://www.ethics.state.fl.us/&quot; target="”_blank”">Florida
Commission on Ethics</a> (which deals with local government ethics),
wrote a <em></em><a href="http://floridathinks.com/florida-issues/florida-issues/ethics-watchdog-…; target="”_blank”">must-read