City Related

The Stamford (CT) <i>Advocate</i>'s Angela Carella wrote <a href="http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Angela-Carella-In-ethical-…; target="”_blank”">an
excellent column on Saturday</a> about a post-employment (also
known as revolving door) situation in Stamford. Entitled "In Ethical Questions,
Appearances Matter," the column looks at the many problems with a

The logic of a California appellate decision on Monday, in the case of <i>St. Croix</i> v. <i>Superior Court</i> (A140308, July
28, 2014) (attached; see below), doesn't seem right to me. It skips steps. St. Croix is
the executive director of the San Francisco Ethics Commission, and
this matter involves a public records request for documents relating
to the commission’s regulations governing ethics complaints. Here's
how the court's logic goes:<br>
<br>

<a href="http://www.theaustinbulldog.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=artic…; target="”_blank”">An
interesting debate about lobbying and advisory groups can be found
on the Austin Bulldog website</a>. Late last week, the Bulldog
published an article about an ethics complaint filed by the

The District of Columbia's former chief administrative law judge
settled with the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability
(BEGA) this week (the settlement agreement is attached; see below).
The misconduct she admitted to included her hiring of a business
partner without going through the standard hiring procedures, and
contracting with a company owned by the business partner's boyfriend

According to <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-voters-to-weigh-in-on-ant…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the San Francisco <i>Chronicle</i> last week</a>, Oakland's

<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/exclusive-speaker-melissa-mark-vive…; target="”_blank”">A
New York <i>Daily News</i> article yesterday</a> describes an
interesting conflict situation. At least one lobbying
firm has worn two hats in its relationship with the speaker of the
New York City council. One hat was that of a campaign and appointments consultant,

Is it appropriate for a mayor — especially a mayor in a city with
strict gift rules and a public campaign financing program that has
strict campaign contribution limits — to work with an organization
that lobbies the state on behalf of his policies and sponsors ads
and materials that support his views and, especially, celebrate his
successes?<br>
<br>
This is the situation in New York City, where Bill de Blasio, in his
first year in office, is being celebrated by an entity called

<a href="http://www.kingstonx.com/2014/07/14/editorial-another-look-maybe/&quot; target="”_blank”">An
excellent editorial yesterday by Dan Barton</a>, editor of the
Kingston (NY) <i>Times</i>, raises a few important issues relating
to local government ethics proceedings.<br>
<br>
According to Barton, Kingston's new ethics board dismissed a complaint

Garbage is the principal regular point of contact between
individuals and their local government. If people are happy with
their garbage pickup, they are likely to be happy with their local
government. For this reason, smart high-level local government
officials make sure that garbage pickup is done well.<br>
<br>
In Chicago, the members of the board of aldermen wanted to be given
credit for garbage pickup. They also wanted to use it as a way to

A recent action by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
against the city of Harvey, IL, a poor city of 30,000 just south of
Chicago, deals with a different sort of fiduciary duty than the
usual government ethics case. In a complaint dated June 24, 2014
(attached; see below), the SEC alleges that the city's comptroller
acted as financial adviser in three bond issues for a hotel development, diverted some of the funds to himself, and also diverted
funds to the city's general fund. The comptroller is acting as