City Related

A lot of interesting issues have arisen with respect
to Santa Fe's <a href="http://www.santafenm.gov/index.aspx?NID=1454&quot; target="”_blank”">Ethics and
Campaign Review Board</a>.<br>
<br>
<b>A Majority of Lawyers on an Ethics Board</b><br>
First, a new selection process was created, and the ethics board members were
replaced some time between the July and August meetings. Instead of

It is a given (although not a fact) that everyone wants to make it
as easy as possible to vote. Voting is the principal way most people
participate in a democracy, and choosing our local officials is the
way we determine the direction and quality of management of our community. In most countries,
voting day is a day off, but this is not true for most people in the
U.S. So it is important to find other ways of making voting easier for people with full-time jobs.<br>
<br>

The situation where New York City's mayor misrepresented the reason
for the resignation of one of his deputy mayors in order to protect
his privacy regarding a domestic dispute raises some interesting
issues about transparency, favoritism, and the extent to which the
private should be made public.<br>
<br>

Did you know that the District of Columbia has its own Speech or
Debate Clause? I learned this from reading the <a href="http://www.legaltimes.typepad.com/files/motion-for-protective-order-1.p…; target="”_blank”">Motion
for a Protective Order on Behalf of Mayor Vincent C. Gray</a>

<br>
How you present an ethics provision can make all the difference.
Take a pay-to-play ordinance proposed in Fort Wayne, which would
limit the amount of contributions and gifts that can be given to
city officials by an individual or entity if it wants to have a
no-bid contract with the city.<br>
<br>

Election time can be a good time for local government ethics. Good
government candidates spout all sorts of interesting ideas about
ethics independence, budgeting, transparency, and the like, which
are rarely heard between elections.<br>
<br>
Take, for example, Leland Yee, who is running for mayor of San
Francisco. His <a href="http://www.lelandyee.com/issues/plan-for-an-independent-city-hall/&quot; target="”_blank”">Plan

Mayor Rahm Emanuel continues to make small government ethics improvements
in Chicago. Yesterday, <a href="http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/mayor/Press%20Room/…; target="”_blank”">according
to a city press release</a>, the council passed five ethics
reforms, all but one of them involving lobbyists. The principal

The paths of justice have some odd twists to them. Consider these
twists. As I wrote in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/legislators-independence-ethics-enfor…; target="”_blank”">a
blog post almost exactly a year ago</a>, both parties to a case
involving a Baltimore council member's alleged acceptance of a bribe
argued that a statutory provision entitled "Action for defamation
against local government

How many hats can a local government attorney wear when it comes to
government ethics? This question arises out of a state bar grievance
filed against <a href="http://www.houstontx.gov/legal/about.html&quot; target="”_blank”">Houston's
city
attorney</a> by a member of the city council.<br>
<br>

The power of the pen is great, and one place that it is especially
powerful in the field of government ethics is in summaries and
directions. Those who write summaries of ethics laws and directions for
filing complaints or other forms can have an enormous effect on
government ethics, either intentionally or negligently, by
mischaracterizing ethics laws and procedures.<br>
<br>