City Related

<b>Update below</b>:<br>
Back in August, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/503&quot; target="”_blank”">a
long blog entry</a> praising the way San Diego's Centre City
Development Corp.'s  (CCDC) board handled a conflict matter. I
focused on the board's refusal to pull the usual San Diego (and
elsewhere) stunt of denying that anything serious had occurred.

There's a national local government annual ethics report that is
worthwhile taking a look at. It comes from the International
City/County Management Association (ICMA), the professional
organization of city, county, and town managers. To my knowledge, no
other local government executive or legislative professional
organization allows ethics complaints to be brought against its members
and enforces its code.<br>
<br>
Its annual report on its ethics program can be found by clicking at the

Because local governments' annual ethics reports serve so many purposes
-- publicizing the ethics program's existence, educating officials and
the public about what an ethics program includes, and making an example
of those who do not file disclosure forms or are found to have
participated in unethical conduct -- they should be made as easily,
widely, and inexpensively available as possible.<br>
<br>
And that means putting them up on the local government's website.<br>
<br>

Annual reports are, among other things, one of the most important, and
overlooked, enforcement mechanisms. At the <a href="http://www.cogel.org/&quot; target="”_blank”">Council on Governmental Ethics Laws
(COGEL)</a> conference last week in Chicago, the executive director of
the <a href="http://www.phila.gov/ethicsboard/&quot; target="”_blank”">Philadelphia Board of

Back in June, in the middle of <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/450&quot; target="”_blank”">a long blog entry</a> on
legislative immunity, I referred to the virtuous circle that includes
both ethics laws and the Speech or Debate Clause, which provides
legislators immunity from interference from the executive and judicial
branches. I would like to focus on this virtuous circle, and explain it
further, because I think it might be the most important argument in

Last week, the Kansas City, MO city council ordered an investigation
into possibly unethical conduct by the city's mayor, according to <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/703/story/933481.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an article in
the Kansas City </a><span><a href="http://www.kansascity.com/703/story/933481.html&quot; target="”_blank”">Star</a>.</span>

I just obtained <a href="http://www.northhaveninfo.org/resources/RI+Memo.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">the Rhode
Island Ethics Commission's memorandum</a> in support of its
jurisdiction over legislators, which was contested by the former state

Sports and other event tickets are a constant issue in local government
ethics. Yes, mayors are often expected to attend major events, but who
else is? Why should city ownership of a facility matter in handing out
tickets? The ownership is not the officials' or employees', but the
citizens'.<br>
<br>

I was in Chicago for the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws annual
conference for a week, which
is why I haven't been blogging lately. I was there when Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested, so the arrest and the tales of
selling a Senate seat and blackmailing the Chicago <span>Tribune</span> are old news now. But there are
a couple of interesting facts about the situation which have been
largely ignored.<br>

Type the word "ethics" into the<a href="http://www.birminghamal.gov/&quot; target="”_blank”">
Birmingham, AL website</a> search box and nothing comes up. Nor can you
find the city's ordinances. Mayor Larry Langford bills himself as a
great reformer, but he certainly hasn't done anything to reform the
city's ethics laws, or at least to let anyone know about them. In fact,
according to the City Ethics site, the ethics ordinance and board used