City Related

It's the end of an era. Last week, according to <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-rahm-emanuel-shak…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Chicago <i>Tribune</i></a><i>,</i> a federal
magistrate declared that Chicago was released from the 1972 Shakman
consent decree, which was supposed to end patronage (for a long

Many people believe that conflicts of interest are limited to
situations where money is involved. When these people write ethics
laws, as they often do, the law effectively says that where money
isn't involved, any conduct is acceptable.<br>
<br>

For example, Pennsylvania's ethics code, which applies to local
officials, defines "conflict of interest" as follows (emphasis added):<blockquote>

<a>An
investigative piece in yesterday's New York <i>Times</i> </a>raises
an interesting issue regarding complicity in ethical
misconduct:  is there an obligation not to be complicit with
misconduct at a different governmental level when, arguably, that misconduct
financially benefits one's own government?<br>
<br>
According to the article, when Bayonne, NJ was in deep financial
trouble in 2010, with the state talking about bailing it out

Good news and bad news about lobbying from New York City's new
mayor. The good news, according to <a href="http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/05/8546065/de-blas…; target="”_blank”">a
recent article on the Capital New York website</a>, is that the
mayor has said that his administration will disclose "substantive"

<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/poor-ethics-code-language&quot; target="”_blank”">A
week ago, I wrote</a> about a poorly written provision in Denver's
ethics code, and the danger it poses not only to Denver, but also
elsewhere, since local governments in Colorado and in other
states are apt to look at the ethics code of such a large,
well-respected city (although now that its highness has two

Alysia Santo wrote <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Inside-Politics-No-revolving-do…; target="”_blank”">an excellent Insider Politics column in the Albany <i>Times-Union</i>
last week</a> on the need for a post-employment provision in the city that is the capital of New York state. But the
columnist went further than this, looking at some aspects of the city's

San Francisco's board of supervisors will soon vote on a number of amendments to
its lobbying code (attached; see below). According to <a href="http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2014/05/27/chiu-lobbying-legislation…; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's San Francisco <i>Chronicle</i></a>, the amendments
are based on recommendations by local good government groups, which

Are those who draft local government ethics codes unusually
eccentric? Unusually clever? Or just lazy? Whichever it is, they don't
seem to consider best practices, or even the practices of better
ethics programs. Across the U.S.A., ethics code drafters seem to pull many of their provisions
out of a hat. And as with Rocky the flying squirrel, sometimes they
pull out a rabbit, sometimes a rhino, and sometimes Bullwinkle the
moose.<br>
<br>

There are three interesting issues in this one minor matter,
involving a Louisiana sheriff's purchase of a house at a foreclosure
sale handled by the sheriff's office.<br>
<br>
<b>The Application of Ethics Laws to Foreclosure Purchases</b><br>
The first issue involves the transaction itself, the particular law
in Louisiana, and how more common conflict laws may be interpreted
in such a situation.<br>
<br>
Louisiana has an unusual law that deals with this sort of

A local lobbying law is only as good as its enforcement, especially
when local government leaders provide no leadership.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20140521/GPG0101/305210355/…; target="”_blank”">a
column by Scott Cooper Williams in the Green Bay (WI) <i>Press