City Related

It took a law student doing a summer job, but there is finally confirmation of what I
have been saying for a long time:  normal people do not
understand the word "interest" as it is commonly used by lawyers in
the government ethics context. It was for this reason that I rarely
use the word "interest" in my book <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/ethics%20book&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Local Government Ethics Programs</i></a>.<br>

Local government ethics can quickly become an ugly circus when officials don't really understand it. A good example occurred in
Royal Oak, Michigan last week, when a city commissioner who had
recently pointed out a legitimate conflict situation involving a fellow commissioner
took an "ethics pledge" at a commission meeting, without any warning, and then asked that
the commissioners agree to take the pledge at the beginning of every

According to <a href="http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/backpedal-replaces-…; target="”_blank”">Dan
Lett's column in the Winnipeg <i>Free Press</i></a> yesterday, when a
conflict of interest issue arises with respect to Winnipeg's mayor,
his first response is to shrug his shoulders. If that works, that's
the end of the matter.<br>
<br>

Now that I am no longer administrator of the New Haven Democracy
Fund, a public campaign financing program, I can once again write
about ethics issues that arise in New Haven. An interesting issue
arose when, according to <a href="http://nhregister.com/articles/2012/09/10/news/new_haven/doc504e9eb75e7…; target="”_blank”">an article in Monday's New Haven <i>Register</i></a>, a member of the city's

According to <a href="http://phoenix.gov/news/091012ethicsreviewtf.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
official press release</a>, yesterday the mayor of Phoenix
announced the formation of an Ethics Review Ad Hoc Task Force, with
eleven members appointed by the mayor, to be chaired by former
Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and staffed by the city’s law
and human resources departments.<br>
<br>

The worst recommendation in the Chicago ethics task force's second report (attached; see below) involves the role it wants the corporation counsel to
play in the city's ethics program: prosecuting attorney.<br>
<br>
I feel strongly that a corporation counsel's office should play no

<br><br>Although the Chicago Ethics Reform Task Force, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/chicago-ethics-task-force-files-first…; target="”_blank”">in
its first report</a>, came out strongly in favor of more

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/nyregion/assemblyman-lopez-is-a-fierc…; target="”_blank”">A
front-page article in yesterday's New York <i>Times</i></a> provides an
excellent portrait of a government official who, although doing much
good work, made it all about himself and those with whom he has

Ethics program independence is, as far as I'm concerned, the single
most important issue in ethics reform. Nothing gains the public's
trust as much as an ethics program that is independent from the
officials over whom it has jurisdiction.<br>
<br>
Ethics program independence means that officials do not participate
in an ethics program in any way other than drafting ethics ordinances
(and even here, most of the work should be done by or in
conjunction with outside people who have special expertise). Independence

<br>The principal topic of the <a href="http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/sites/default/files/Report%20of%20the%20…; target="”_blank”">second report of the Chicago Ethics Reform Task Force</a> is the
relationship between the Board of Ethics and the city's dual
inspectors general, one for the executive branch (the IG) and a new