City Related

There are some interesting ethics issues being raised in Madison, Wisconsin.<br>
<br>
The mayor of Madison was asked
to co-chair a committee that will be raising funds to sponsor a
national conference of urban designers and developers to be held in
Madison. One job for the mayor would be to send out
fundraising letters and follow up with phone calls to companies and
individuals, including some that do business with the city.<br>
<br>
The mayor responsibly asked for an advisory opinion before accepting

This post will be of special interest to those who enjoy the occasional ironies
that arise in the world of government ethics. According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/nyregion/13black.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in today's New York <i>Times</i></a>, the woman named to be New York
City's new schools chancellor has decided to resign from her positions

<br>
Vernon, CA, the subject of several blog posts here (click <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/update-vernon-ultimate-company-town&q…; target="”_blank”">here</a>
for the latest), has been the object of criminal investigations, but
now local officials are starting to get creative in response to the
most creatively imagined city in the U.S.<br>
<br>

<b>County Ethics Embraced By Its Cities and Towns</b><br>
Ethics reform won big in Palm Beach County on Tuesday. The final
tallies were published on Friday. According to <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/1024925.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an article in
yesterday's Palm Beach <i>Post</i></a>, every single city and town in the
county voted in favor of applying the county's code to their town.

Do expertise and conflicts go together more like love and marriage, or
like horse and carriage? In other words, are they necessary or are they
outdated in this age of government ethics?<br>
<br>
Interested people making important
decisions that affect their livelihood was the American way for
most of our nation's history. Beginning with Watergate,
the public has moved past this horse and carriage approach, toward a more selfless public service
where people deal responsibly with conflicts and do their best not to

Almost two years ago, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/614">I
wrote about</a> the self-serving nature of attempts at ethics reform in
the village of Niles, outside Chicago. A lot has happened since then,
but in terms of an ethics program, not much.<br>
<br>

According to the Atlanta ethics office's <a href="http://www.atlantaga.gov/client_resources/government/boards/ethics_matt…; target="”_blank”">fall newsletter</a>, the Atlanta
Board of Ethics reached a settlement with a council member who sought
reimbursement from the city for costs related to her campaign
newsletter, including payments to campaign workers who distributed it

An <i>Ethics Matters</i> newsletter from the Atlanta ethics officer is always
a valuable occasion for those interested in local government ethics.
<a href="http://www.atlantaga.gov/client_resources/government/boards/ethics_matt…; target="”_blank”">The fall newsletter</a> is no exception (to subscribe, e-mail [email protected]). This is the first

Hidden in the middle of <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/charter/html/home/home.shtml&quot; target="”_blank”">Question 2
on the New York City ballot</a> this week are two important changes in
the city's conflicts of interest law (to my knowledge, the nation's
only aptly named ethics code). The current conflicts of interest

Here's an interesting twist. The mayor of Watervliet, Michigan (pop.
1,900) resigned in protest after the city commission interviewed one of
its own members for the apparently paid position of city treasurer, according to <a href="http://heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/10/26/local_news/2253525.txt&q…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the <i>Herald Palladium</i> on Tuesday</a>.<br>
<br>