City Related

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/former-ec-members-can-help-filing-com…; target="”_blank”">a
recent blog post</a>, the background issue was the effect of
independent spending on a local public campaign financing program in
Santa Fe.<br>
<br>
Especially in the shadow of recent Supreme Court decisions<i>, </i>this
is currently a serious problem for many local public campaign

According to <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/02/ray_nagin_trial_live_covera…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the New Orleans <i>Times-Picayune</i></a>, yesterday former
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin was convicted on 20 of the 21 corruption
charges against him, primarily for bribery, honest services fraud,
and tax fraud.<br>
<br>

Since most local ethics commissions do not have the authority to
initiate their own investigations or draft their own complaints
(although in many cases this authority is not expressly withheld),
there is a special role that former EC members, especially chairs,
can play:  filing complaints that no one else will file.<br>
<br>

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/top-city-judge-allegedl…; target="”_blank”">Mike
DeBonis's article in the Washington <i>Post</i></a> last week describes an operatic
ethics matter, with several twists and complications, with dramatic

This is the last of four blog posts on <a href="http://static.lobbytools.com/bills/2014/pdf/0606.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">Florida
Senate Bill 606</a> (attached; see below), one of the worst ethics
reform bills I have ever read.<br>
<br>
The Florida League of Cities was deeply involved in drafting these
supposed ethics reforms, which I criticize in my last three blog
posts. The question needs to be asked:  Was the League acting

<a href="http://static.lobbytools.com/bills/2014/pdf/0606.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">Florida
Senate Bill 606</a> (attached; see below) is one of the worst ethics reform bills I have
ever read. But it is far worse than the words it consists of. What
makes it worse is that, with respect to laws that affect local officials, it is largely the work of the Florida League of Cities
(this was confirmed to me by representatives of both the League and

Who should be allowed to file an ethics complaint? Certainly any
citizen of the jurisdiction. But what about multiple citizens of the
jurisdiction? Should an ethics commission exclude a complaint from
them?<br>
<br>
This is what happened recently in Brookfield, CT, according to <a href="http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Ethics-investigation-into-Brookf…; target="”_blank”">an

Here's a new role for an ethics commission:  mediator in a
dispute between other government oversight offices. According to <a href="http://theadvocate.com/news/neworleans/neworleansnews/8048851-123/rift-…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the <i>Advocate</i> last week</a>, New Orleans' ethics board
has appointed two of its members to mediate in an ongoing dispute

According to <a href="http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/21233-do-bank-of-america…; target="”_blank”">a
recent Reader Supported News article</a>, ethics allegations
have been made in Montpelier regarding two high-level officials. Both allegations are worthy of a closer look.<br>
<br>
According to the article, the mayor of Montpelier, the state

According to <a href="http://seguingazette.com/news/article_736afcb4-725f-11e3-86f9-0019bb296…; target="”_blank”">an
article yesterday in the Seguin (TX) <i>Gazette</i></a>, there will be a
perfectly ordinary local government ethics occurrence next Monday in
Seguin, a town of 25,000 outside San Antonio: the city's ethics
commission will meet in closed session to discuss a recently filed