City Related

Two types of independence often clash when it comes to government
ethics. It is important that government ethics programs be administered
by independent commissions. But independent agencies often do what they
can not to be subject to a local government ethics commission.<br>
<br>
It is clear which sort of independence is more important, but
independent agencies still put their interest in self-regulation ahead
of the public's interest in an effective, trustworthy ethics program.

Without giving it any thought, it would be hard to think of a better
fit than a city politician running the local chamber of commerce. After
all, the goals of a chamber of commerce and of a city government are
pretty much the same:  security, good government, good services,
low taxes.<br>
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But when you think about it more, you realize that a chamber of
commerce is not just a cheerleader for the city, but also a powerful
organization that lobbies city politicians on a variety of issues,

Some local government ethics codes include a provision prohibiting officials from
acting outside of their authority, which is especially directed at
council members interfering in a city or county's management. I don't
consider this a government ethics issue, since it does not necessarily
involve favoritism, the official's personal interest, or anyone's
personal interest. It is most often just a matter of the official
trying to get things done through improper channels, which is a

<b>Some Problems with Mayoral Executive Orders in Philadelphia</b><br>
On January 25, Philadelphia Mayor Nutter signed three ethics-related
executive orders, which I would love to link you to, but cannot.
How effective, except as a way to get the council moving on ethics reform, are executive orders that can't be found online? These orders deal with nepotism, family-oriented conflicts, outside
employment, and gifts.<br>
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A recent decision of the Wilton, NY ethics board (attached; see below)
raises important issues regarding the selection of ethics commission
members, their withdrawal from participation when they have a conflict, and the way an ethics commission handles allegations that are
not covered by the ethics code.<br>
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<b>Conning Citizens</b><br>
Car towing is one of the biggest temptations in local government. A
police officer goes to the scene of an accident, and one or more
drivers needs to have their cars towed. The drivers are injured or at least in
shock, and rarely thinking straight. The officer has been offered so
many dollars per car that he steers to a towing company or a bodywork
shop with a tow truck. No one will know and no one will be hurt. It
might be called a kickback, but it's no more than doing a service for

I talk a lot about poor ethics environments, probably the single most
important element in unethical conduct. But since loyalty is the
strongest force in such environments, a great deal of work is done to
hide the existence of poor ethics environments. After unethical conduct
is discovered, it is rare for anyone to set out just how bad things
were.<br>
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But sometimes things are so bad, it becomes clear that there aren't

It is generally agreed that it is best to preserve an ethics
commission's jurisdiction over officials and employees after they quit
or leave office. There are two reasons for this. One, to prevent them
from escaping enforcement by quitting or leaving office. This is
especially important because it can take a long time for information to
come out that an ethics violation might have occurred, and for an
ethics proceeding to be completed. The second reason is to allow for
post-employment restrictions. But many ethics codes ignore this best

<br>
According to <a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/way-back-machine-rough-boy…; target="”_blank”">an
article in today's New York <i>Times</i></a>, this allegorical neoFlorentine

<h2>"It's a very powerful story of a public official who wanted to do
the right thing, who got appropriate advice, and then ended up being
punished. He was punished for doing his public duty and voting, just
because a political ally was involved. I don't
call that a conflict of interest. I call that democracy."</h2> —Joshua
Rosenkranz, a New York lawyer representing Sparks City (NV) council
member Mike Carrigan in his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a suit attempting to overturn a