City Related

One of the principal reasons I have focused my energies on local
government ethics is that most people learn their government ethics at
the local level. What they see people doing on councils and zoning
boards, they do on state legislatures and commissions, and then again
at the federal level.<br>
<br>
But things go the other way, as well. Disdain for government ethics at
the state level can affect the ethics environments of that state's local
governments. This appears to be happening in Missouri.<br>

According to <a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=2009…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Tulsa <span>World</span></a>,
last week the city's Ethics Advisory Committee (EAC) ruled in favor of
one of its members, Michael Slankard, with respect to an advisory
opinion request by the city attorney. This situation raises several

An important issue in local government ethics is how far jurisdiction
should go. Recently, I did <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/696&quot; target="”_blank”">a
blog entry</a> on jurisdiction over those doing government-approved
work. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/nyregion/11stadium.html&quot; target="”_blank”">An

One of the biggest problems people have with government ethics is
acknowledging the difference between ethics enforcement and ethics
practice. Ethics enforcement is legal. You cannot enforce rules that
are not in the law. But when it comes to ethics practice, the law
represents only the minimum requirement. The law is what you <span>have</span> to do, but an official can be
more ethical, more open, more responsible than what is required.
Officials have fiduciary duties that go far beyond the provisions of ethics codes.<br>

According to <a href="http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/mayor_ray_nagins_ownership_o…; target="”_blank”">an
article yesterday in the New Orleans <span>Times-Picayune</span></a>,
there's a battle going on in New Orleans, but this time it involves a
flood of public documents, as well as a trickle of financial disclosure
forms. The battle is between the mayor and the city council, on one side, and a civil rights

Happy Fifth Birthday, Atlanta Ethics Office! The Ethics Office has
celebrated its birthday with <a href="http://atlantaga.govhost.com/client_resources/government/boards/board_o…; target="”_blank”">a
40-page report</a> on its first five years of existence. It is well
worth looking at.<br>
<br>

<b>Update:</b> February 5, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
Alaska and a small utility district in Texas. Who would have thought they could have anything in
common. But they do: representation without taxation.<br>
<br>
Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal by NAMUDNO (Northwest

Hiding a conflict of interest can lead to much worse problems than
appearing before an ethics commission and getting your hand slapped, or
even getting slapped with a fine. A criminal case in Winston-Salem, NC
this week shows how bad things can get.<br>
<br>

Ethics codes do not generally have rules about the involvement of
spouses of government officials in citizen groups. But this can create
serious appearance problems, as it has in St. Charles, Illinois, an hour west of Chicago, according to <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-school-couple-23-mar23,0,2…; target="”_blank”">an

There are two interesting developments going on in Texas right now, and
two bills that will be heard in committee today.<br>
<br>
One involves a request to the state legislature by El Paso County to
allow local governments to give their ethics commissions teeth (they now
can only censure).<br>
<br>