City Related

Who expects a wonderful local government ethics surprise to come from
New Jersey? Check out the Department of State's <a href="http://www.state.nj.us/state/secretary/ordinance.html#1&quot; target="”_blank”">Pay-to-Play
Ordinances page</a>, which provides links, county by county, of
municipal ordinances placing a limited contribution ban on those
entering into municipal contracts.<br>
<br>

Tallahassee takes a compliance approach to ethics. Its <a href="http://www.talgov.com/gov/facts/ethics.cfm&quot; target="”_blank”">ethics code</a> is
aspirational, based on core values. Its ethics training employs a
Character First approach. Conflicts of interest are only a small
portion of a program that ranges from personnel and transparency issues
to harassment, discrimination, and fraud.<br>
<br>

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<b>Update:</b> January 4, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
On December 15, Chicago published a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/24238034/2009-City-of-Chicago-Compliance-and-…; target="”_blank”">Compliance
and
Integrity

In three cities this week, top officials showed the ability to get away with unethical behavior, but not the ability to distinguish law from ethics.<br>
<br>

It's only a month ago that a <a href="http://ethics.lacity.org/pdf/pressrelease/press_112409_SpecialBulletin_…; target="”_blank”">federal
court
in California rejected</a> a PAC's attempt to prevent the Los
Angeles ethics commission from enforcing contribution limits in the

The ethics commission for the largest American city, and the only one
with a truly appropriate title — New York City's <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/conflicts/html/home/home.shtml&quot; target="”_blank”">Conflicts
of Interest Board</a> — is appointed by the city's extremely strong
mayor, with council approval.<br>
<br>
If this old and highly respected EC were to be made independent of the

Here's a tough call. It's a few weeks before a primary election, and
you (a local ethics commission member or staff member) learn that a
candidate has violated an ethics code provision, and hidden it
via a false disclosure. Do you act or do you sit on your hands until
after the election?<br>
<br>
Often this sort of problem arises when a complaint is filed by an opposing
candidate or party member, that is, when the filing is politically
motivated. But what should an EC do when there is no outside

I talk a lot about the importance of independent ethics commissions.
But independence is not always a good thing for local government boards
and commissions. Independence without oversight, transparency, and independent
ethics enforcement easily turns into someone's fiefdom.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://m.freep.com/news.jsp?key=555951&rc=ne&p=1&quot; target="”_blank”">an

<br>
Standard of proof is a big issue in ethics enforcement, as it is in
any enforcement. A year and a half ago, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/452&quot; target="”_blank”">a blog post</a> on the
mishmash of standards of proof in local ethics codes and in the codes of states that have jurisdiction over local government ethics.
In many codes there is no stated standard or a worthlessly

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<b>Good and Bad News from Memphis</b><br>
The good news from Memphis is that newly-elected mayor A. C. Wharton,
Jr. issued an ethics executive order last week (attached; see below).
The order's provisions, which do not apply to council and its staff,
are less valuable in their own right than as a prod to the council to