City Related

Here's a situation from Lafayette Parish, a city of 220,000 in
south-central Louisiana, which shows how when one official fails to
deal responsibly with his conflicts, he is likely to be complicit in helping other
officials deal irresponsibly with their conflicts and with those of their colleagues. When this official is a
government attorney, it can cause an entire board or agency to deal irresponsibly
with a conflict.<br>
<br>

<b>Wow! Get a Load of Those Salaries!</b><br>
It's official. People get more upset over big salaries to government
officials than over bribes, kickbacks, unbid contracts, and the like,
which cost taxpayers far, far more.<br>
<br>

I wish that a grad student somewhere would decide to do an exhaustive
study of a poor ethics environment. Broward County, Florida would not
be a bad choice as the subject of her research.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/13/v-fullstory/2166137/longtime-deer…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Miami <i>Herald</i> this week</a>, a Deerfield Beach

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/1478&quot; target="”_blank”">my last post</a>, I dealt with the many arguments against application of
the attorney-client privilege in the context of an inspector general,
or ethics commission, investigation of official misconduct. One thing I
did not do was respond to the general argument in favor of
attorney-client privilege.<br>
<br>

Is the attorney-client privilege, in the context of an inspector
general's (or, for that a matter, an ethics commission's) investigation
of misconduct in city government,
"sacred," as Chicago's corporation counsel insists? Is it even
appropriate?<br>
<br>
This is a long post that will be fascinating to many, will raise hackles in some, but will be of less
interest to others. If you want to cut to the chase, read the summary
paragraph at the end and move on.<br>
<br>

When there is no formal process for dealing with a council member's conflict of interest, and the council handles the matter itself,
things can get farcical. This is what is
happening in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue,_Washington&quot; target="”_blank”">Bellevue, WA</a>.
This wealthy suburb of Seattle, with a population of 120,000, has an
ethics code for employees, but with no independent enforcement. Its

<b>Update: May 14, 2011</b> (see below)<br>
<br>
An ethics controversy in Hartford presents a perfect opportunity to
show the difference between ethics and law, and the right way to
approach financial disclosure requirements.<br>
<br>
Here are the facts, as reported in two Jon Lender columns in the

An interesting question arises from <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/10/v-fullstory/2159921/robaina-at-ce…; target="”_blank”">a
big
investigative article in yesterday's Miami <i>Herald</i></a>:  is it
unethical for a mayor and his wife to be part of a shadow banking
network in their city?<br>
<br>

<b>Model Ethics Code Promotion As Community Service</b><br>
I promise you that I did not write the City Ethics Model Code in order
to shorten my prison sentence. According to <a href="http://www.ctpost.com/default/article/Need-for-ethics-code-remains-1325…; target="”_blank”">an
article
in
yesterday's Connecticut <i>Post</i></a>, that is effectively what a

Transparency is one of the most controversial aspects of government
ethics. It's so controversial that it is rarely
discussed in terms of transparency. It is almost always discussed in terms of
confidentiality, which is rarefly referred to by its popular name: secrecy. This careful use of words leads people to devalue transparency.<br>
<br>
The first statement in any discussion of transparency in government
ethics should be that transparency is one of the three areas of