City Related

When is a conflict sufficient to require an official to resign (or not
take a position in the first place)? This question involves a lot of
gray area, and little black and white. What sorts of interest are
enough to undermine
public trust, and what sorts of interest provide opportunities for
officials to benefit unfairly from their positions? Here are three
recent situations where an official's external job was seen or not seen
as creating a conflict serious enough to require resignation.<br>

Move over, presidents, movie stars, and models. Welcome a local
government ethics officer to your ranks.<br>
<br>
Yes, at last a local government ethics officer's picture is on the
cover of a magazine. The ethics officer is City Ethics' own Carla
Miller, and the magazine is Northeast Florida's <span><a href="http://www.folioweekly.com/&quot; target="”_blank”">Folio

So much of government ethics involves the contrast, and sometimes the
collision, between ethics and law. Too often the personal aspect of
government ethics is overlooked. All three get twisted together in a
very simple matter that occurred last week in the Escondido (CA) city
council, according to <a href="http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2009/01/31/news/inland/escondi…; target="”_blank”">an

Gifts to local governments have become an issue recently in Sacramento,
CA and Richland Hills, TX. <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/123&quot; target="”_blank”">I
wrote about various aspects of this issue over two years ago</a>. It's
time to raise it with respect to concrete examples.<br>
<br>
Basically, gifts to local governments by businesses and individuals
with a business relationship to the local government carry a strong

<b>See updates below</b><br>
<br>
It's refreshing to feel good after reading a mayor's statement in
response to <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/11450080/Warrant">a warrant for his arrest</a>. According to <a href="http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-perez0127.artjan27,0,4916395.story…; target="”_blank”">an

What happens if an ethics commission enters into a settlement agreement
in which an official admits to certain conduct in violation of the
jurisdiction's ethics code, and then the official goes out into the
world and says he did nothing wrong, but felt it was best for everyone
to pay the fine and move on?<br>
<br>

As I wrote in a blog entry nearly two years ago, Memphis has broken
records in terms of convicted public officials. But its mayor of
seventeen years, Willie Herenton, has stood above it all. At least
until now.<br>
<br>
One result of the many convictions in Memphis was a new <a href="http://www.memphistn.gov/pdf_forms/EthicsOrd060407.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">ethics

When <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/381&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote
about</a> the "industrial city" of Vernon, California a year ago, I
didn't pay attention to a story that would, if it were true
(allegations have been made but, as far as I know, not proven), make

A year ago, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/422&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote</a> about New York City Council's earmark funds and the ways they were
being abused. Atlanta's council members have a different sort of
fund, not intended to help their constituents, but intended to help

<b>See update below</b><br>
<br>
Ethics is popular in Illinois right now, so popular that two mayoral
candidates in the Village of Niles, a northwest suburb of Chicago (pop.
30,000), are putting it at the center of their campaigns. But it's not
ethics as most of us like to think of it.<br>