City Related
Lobbying and Large Local Government Contracts
One of the biggest problems with local government lobbyists is that
they invariably have close contacts with those who run the city or
county. So whenever they are involved in a matter, especially the
bidding of large contracts, there is a strong appearance of impropriety,
and people don't trust the bidding process.<br>
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This is why some local governments place a ban on the lobbying of
government officials with respect to large contracts and developments.
Three Recusal Case Studies
Here are three different recusal case studies:<br>
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<span>Public Recusal Is Not Enough</span><br>
One of the most important things to emphasize about recusal is that
recusal at a meeting is not enough. Recusal is supposed
to mean withdrawal from involvement in any aspect of a matter where an
official has a conflict of interest. Recusal at a meeting is only
withdrawal from the public part of a matter. If the official continues
to be involved with the matter behind the scenes, it is, in some ways,
Lawsuits, Legal Fees, and County Attorney Conflicts in El Paso Ethics Complaints Battle
In the midst of <a href="http://www.elpasotimes.com/publiccorruption" target="”_blank”">a big corruption probe</a>, a pair of back-and-forth ethics
complaints filed with a nearly toothless ethics commission in El Paso
doesn't seem like much. But it does sheds some light on how much El
Paso government is about the players rather than the citizens. And it
touches on some issues that are important everywhere, including the use
The Need for Ethics Commission Independence, and What Is and Isn't a Government Ethics Violation
<b>Updates below</b><br>
Anyone who doubts the need for truly independent ethics commissions
need look no further than what has been happening in Philadelphia this
week. Or should I say "this year"?<br>
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Criminal Charges and a Civil Suit Against Leaders of America's "Dream Machine"
Vernon, the "Dream Machine" I've written about in two previous blog
posts (<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/381" target="”_blank”">1 </a>and <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/616" target="”_blank”">2</a>), is back in the news.
Ottawa: A Mayor on Trial Refuses to Deal Responsibly with an Unrelated Conflict
Ottawa is currently in the grips of its mayor's influence-peddling
trial. The allegations are that the mayor tried to get another mayoral
candidate out of the race by offering him money and a federal position.
The Ottawa <span>Citizen</span> has <a href="http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Larry+Brien+Trial+chronology/1555208/…; target="”_blank”">an
Local Government EC Director Shows How It's Done
According to <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090526_Ethics_board_fines_…; target="”_blank”">an
article on yesterday's Philly.com website</a>, the Philadelphia Board
of Ethics fined its executive director $500 for violating the
confidentiality rules of the city's ethics code. The story is
instructive in how to handle such difficult matters. (Disclosure: I
The Effects of an Inadequate Ethics Code
There are many perils of an inadequate local government ethics code, as can be seen in Colorado Springs, which passed an ethics
code in 2007. Last week, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/747" target="”_blank”">a blog entry</a> about the
new ethics commission's first complaint. Even before the ethics
Detroit and the Loyalties of Local Government Attorneys
<span></span>Loyalty is a virtue that is out
of place in government, because loyalty is a personal virtue, a virtue
that involves one's own personal interest and that of the person one is
loyal to.<br>
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Loyalty is a particularly difficult issue for local government
attorneys, because loyalty is essentially the principal virtue
for attorneys. Attorneys' conflicts of interest involve interests that
get in the way of complete loyalty to a client.<br>
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Applicant Disclosure, and the Difference It Makes
The two best defenses against dealing responsibly with a conflict are
that the local government attorney told me it was okay, and I didn't
know there was a conflict. The first can be dealt with by getting the local government
attorney out of the government ethics picture. But the second requires
something few local government ethics codes require: applicant
disclosure.<br>
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