City Related

It's not quite civil disobedience by county officials, but Michigan's
senate majority leader has asked the Attorney General to block what
those officials are doing, according to <a href="http://www.mlive.com/elections/index.ssf/2008/10/clerks_press_to_ease_s…; target="”_blank”">an
article</a> yesterday on mlive.com (Booth Newspapers). The officials
are county clerks, and what they've done is to cross-deputize each

I've <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/525&quot; target="”_blank”">already written</a>
about the conflict of interest problems involved in the New York City

<b>See update and second update below</b><br>
People in the government ethics field can be very arrogant. I know I
can. But it's horrible to see it in action, especially when it's turned
against what we commonly think of as good government.<br>
<br>
Fred Voigt is the deputy city election commissioner for Philadelphia,

Sometimes city councils feel compelled to write or improve their city's
ethics law due to a scandal. Sometimes city councils are compelled by a ballot measure. And in both instances, the council isn't happy with the result.<br>
<br>
In San Diego, the ethics code came via ballot measure in 2002, and yes,
the city council doesn't seem all that happy with the result. So it is
doing what it can to undermine the ballot measure and to keep the
ethics commission's work out of the public eye.<br>

<b>See Update below</b><br>
Is there a conflict when a county prosecutor who is a presidential
candidate's campaign chairman in the area subpoenas the voting records,
including personal information, of certain voters who registered and
voted at the same time during a short window when this is allowed in

<b>See below for two updates</b><br>
<br>
I've written a lot about politicians' charities, and how they allow
lobbyists and others to get around limits on campaign contributions.
But <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/nyregion/18termlimits.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in today's New York Times</a> presents a new form

To what extent should financial disclosure rules be applied to
nonprofits that do government work?<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/nyregion/12disclose.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article</a> in Sunday's New York <span>Times</span>,
two years ago New York State extended disclosure requirements to the
board members of nonprofits "affiliated with, sponsored by or created

We don't know why the Summit County developer is running for a council seat (see
the most recent blog entry), but we do know why a sheriff's sergeant in
Rancho Murieta, California, is running for the Sacramento County
Community Services District Board: to get off-duty sheriff's deputies
to provide security in his area. And according to <a href="http://ranchomurieta.com/node/7112&quot; target="”_blank”">an article on

Expertise is one of the most difficult issues in local government
ethics. In most cases, more expertise also means more potential
conflicts of interest, and yet it can also mean more effective
government. According to a<a href="http://www.parkrecord.com/todaysheadlines/ci_10719647&quot; target="”_blank”">n article
in yesterday's Park Record</a> (Park City, UT), a Summit County Council

According to <a href="http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-2/12225760593…; target="”_blank”">an
editorial in the New Jersey Star-Ledger</a>, Gov. Corzine has set forth
a number of ethics reforms, which focus on cities and counties, where