City Related

As discussed in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/dallas-ethics-reform-proposals-go-vot…
earlier
blog post</a>, eighteen months ago the Dallas council, under the
prodding of the mayor at the time, passed

<b>Update</b>: November 1, 2011 (see below)<br>
<br>
Hundreds of Bronx police officers are being investigated for ticket
fixing, one of the most common forms of preferential treatment in local
governments across the country. What's especially notable about

Last August, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/gifts-professional-services&quot; target="”_blank”">a
blog post</a> about the mayor of Tulsa accepting free legal services
from an attorney who represented Tulsa in certain matters, that is,
from a city contractor. The matter involved the council possibly filing
charges against the mayor for allegedly lying about a federal police
grant.<br>
<br>

"The appropriate authority" is a vague phrase to base a major ethics
reform proposal on, but that is just what the District of Columbia's <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/55673311/Comprehensive-Ethics-Reform-Act&quot; target="”_blank”">draft
Comprehensive Ethics Reform Act of 2011</a> does.<br>
<br>
Introduced Tuesday by the council chair, this act is neither

On December 6, according to <a href="http://www.chicagotalks.org/2010/12/06/mayoral-candidate-rahm-emanuel-c…; target="”_blank”">an
article on the Chicago Talks website</a>, Chicago mayoral candidate
Rahm Emanuel promised that he would make many ethics reforms to “change
the culture” of corruption and cronyism at City Hall.<br>
<br>

In March, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/miscellany-15">a blog post
about a nepotism situation</a> in Valparaiso, IN. The city's ethics
commission found that the hiring of the fire chief's son would be in
violation of the ethics code, because the chief would be directly
involved in personnel matters involving his son.<br>
<br>

Going by the reaction of the news media and the Pulitzer committee, the most serious government
ethics scandal of 2010 occurred in Bell, California, where the city's
top officials were paying themselves huge salaries, taking advantage of
an uneducated, uninvolved citizenry.<br>
<br>

Needless to say, <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/10-568…; target="”_blank”">last
week's
oral
argument before the U.S. Supreme Court</a> in the <i>Carrigan v.

<b>Update</b>: September 17, 2011 (see below)<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/An-ethical-dilemma-Who-…; target="”_blank”">An
article
in yesterday's Stamford <i>Advocate</i></a> keeps asking the question,
Who should pay? The article is referring to attorney's fees

Kerry Cavanaugh, a Los Angeles <I>Daily News</i> columnist, got it wrong when
she started <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/columnists/ci_17787108&quot; target="”_blank”">a
recent
column,</a> "Here's another reminder that politicians are not
like you or me. If I get caught taking inappropriate gifts or violating
the company's ethics policy, I might be fired, suspended without pay or