City Related

The great majority of what is written about legislative redistricting
focuses on state and federal redistricting. But many cities, even some
towns, have districts too, and resetting district boundaries is an
important political process designed to prevent public participation and to undermine public trust.<br>
<br>
<em> </em>In January, an advisory board of experts and representatives
of good government groups got together to articulate principles of

The confidentiality, or transparency, of local government ethics complaints and
proceedings is a funny topic. Most of the time, government officials
want as much confidentiality as possible. They don't want ethical
issues concerning them to be mentioned in public.<br>
<br>
But there are times when they want to
be able to blast those who file complaints against them, and then they
favor transparency. In other words, which side they're on does not
involve policy, but their self-interest. It's amazing how often

It's a good thing, especially in this age of fiscal austerity, when a
local government affair, such as a retirement party, is not paid for
out of public funds. But retirement parties, within reason, are part of
any organization's calendar. Better they be reasonable and paid for by
taxpayers than the alternative.<br>
<br>
That alternative is having local government affairs paid for by those
doing business with the agency, as appears to have happened in Atlanta,

What responsibility does a supervisor have for the unethical conduct of a
subordinate? This issue arises in a matter in Winn Parish, Louisiana
where, according to <a href="http://myarklamiss.com/fulltext?nxd_id=64475&quot; target="”_blank”">an article on
myarklamiss.com</a>, based on a channel 10 newscast (accessible on the
same page as the article), a former chief deputy sheriff is being

As serious as the appearance of impropriety that arises from the council member's
family firm seeking TIF money and a tax abatement from the city is the
fact that any developer or member of a developer's family sitting on a
city council faces not just the occasional ethical controversy, as has
been the case in this situation. Such an individual faces an ongoing
series of possible conflicts, most of which do not lead to complaints, requests for advisory opinions, or controversies.<br>
<br>

The family firm's $100 million development takes this matter beyond
ordinary conflicts, due to state and local laws on officials entering into public contracts with their city. What makes this issue far more
serious than an ordinary conflict, which can be dealt with responsibly through
recusal, is that both state and local law require the official to choose
between his government position and an interest in a public contract.
It is this far more drastic remedy that has recently escalated emotions

In determining whether a conflict or preferential treatment might
exist, another aspect of benefits, in addition to how definite or
direct they
are, is their proportionality. Stated in the form of a question, Is the benefit at issue
just one of many equivalent benefits to a sizeable group, such as
senior citizens or property owners, or is it especially large?<br>
<br>
The council member took the position that he and his family firm
benefited no more than others who owned or had development rights in

Indefinite benefits, like indirect benefits, are often not dealt with
by ethics codes, and this means that they can cause confusion and controversy. This is one reason I
tend to speak in terms of "possible conflicts," because possible
conflicts based on indefinite benefits can be just as injurious to the
public trust as certain conflicts based on certain benefits.<br>
<br>
In the current situation in Cincinnati, it is not certain whether the
streetcar project will benefit the council member's family firm, nor is

A government official's relationships -- to family, employer, business -- are very important to determining whether
conflicts exist. Both the
type and the directness of each relationship are also important.<br>
<br>
Here again are the basic facts of the situation in Cincinnati that I

According to <a href="http://ilind.net/2010/05/17/city-ethics-chair-resigns-to-avoid-violatio…; target="”_blank”">an
iLind.net blog post this week</a>, the chair of the Honolulu Ethics