City Related

<b>Quote after Quote in Paris</b><br>
Earlier this month the French president's son supplied me with a <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/quote-day">quote of the day.</a> Now he has announced he will not pursue a job his father used to have,
and he has supplied me with another quote of the day:<br>
<ul>If the question you are asking me is,
‘Did you talk to the president

Is political deal-making a government ethics violation? This is a tough
area. Government ethics is about the conflict of personal and public
interests. Political interests are generally left out of the equation
unless non-political benefits are involved. In politics, you are allowed
to put your personal interests first, at least until you win.<br>
<br>

 A few days ago, I wrote a <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/irresponsible-handling-possible-confl…
post</a> about how several government officials in Wausau mishandled a
conflict situation involving the purchase of property fixed up with an
interest-free loan from HUD. Yesterday's <i>The State</i> of South Carolina

One problem in government ethics is that when conflict situations are
dealt with responsibly, there is rarely a record of them. They pass
quietly, failing to end up in the newspaper, at an ethics commission,
or in court. So generally we're stuck learning from the times when
conflict situations are dealt with irresponsibly. One of these situations, in Wausau, Wisconsin, made it to court, and a decision this
week by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin

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<b>Update</b>: February 2, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
A recent New York <i>Times</i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/nyregion/13conflict.html"&gt;
article</a> concerns a potential conflict in the city council speaker's
office. But what is most interesting about the article is the bigger
question it raises

Once again, a local government official's attempt to use a charity to
get around campaign finance laws has blown up in his face. According to
<a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/fulton-county-court-…
article</b></a> in the Atlanta <i>Journal-Constitution</i>, an Atlanta council
member was fined $25,000 by a state court for failing to register a

Should elected officials be held to a higher standard than ordinary
people? And if so, who should decide?<br>
<br>
These questions are central to a dispute that has been simmering for
two years in El Paso. According to <a href="http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_13536686&quot; target="”_blank”"><b>an article</b></a> in
the El Paso <i>Times</i> yesterday, the local district attorney would not

How can a lawyer responsibly deal with the following situation? A
former city attorney, he has been general counsel to the city's <a href="http://www.houstonsports.org/&quot; target="”_blank”"><b>sports authority</b></a>, which
oversees three major sports with three stadiums (and there's talk of a

Yesterday, according to <a href="http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/10/now_that_don_hills_b…; target="”_blank”"><b>an
article</b></a> in the Dallas <i>Observer</i>, Don Hill, a former Dallas council
member, and four of his associates were found guilty of participating
in an incredible extortion plot relating to affordable housing in South

There are limits on the legislative immunity of local government
officials, according to a decision yesterday by the Baltimore Circuit
Court in the Dixon case (attached; see below), involving the mayor of
Baltimore at the time she was president of the city council.<br>
<br>