City Related

The New York State Commission on Public Integrity released <a href="http://www.nyintegrity.org/enforcement/norc.html&quot; target="”_blank”">a report</a>
yesterday on the allegations relating to the Spitzer Administration's
attempts to gather and make public the travel abuses of the Senate

According to <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080721-1926-bn21sedc.html&qu…; target="”_blank”">a
recent article in the San Diego <span>Union-Tribune</span></a>,
the chair of one of the city's economic development commissions made an
unusual deal with, and a half-million-dollar instant profit from (the
purchase and sale transactions were filed at the same time), the

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/472&quot; target="”_blank”">my recent entry</a> about Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, I said
nothing about the fact that the university center he was seeking funds
for has his name on it. An excellent <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-fund/bipartisan-scandal-congre_b_113…; target="”_blank”">entry

The drug war is not really about drugs, it's about addiction. And
dependency is what powers addiction.<br>
<br>
As it turns out, dependency is also what powers the drug war, at least
in Texas. Local government agencies, and often local governments
themselves, are dependent on the money that comes from asset
forfeitures related to the drug trade. We're talking hundreds of
millions of dollars.<br>
<br>

You know you're in trouble when a grand jury foreman says about you,
"They need an independent organization to be an oversight ..., not just
the grand jury doing it once every few years."<br>
<br>
Of course, the "they" here are local government agencies:  five
community college districts in San Diego County, whose boards of
trustees are elected.<br>
<br>

In ethics codes, campaign contributions are sacrosanct. Nearly every ethics code excepts
them from the definition of "gift," "personal benefit," "anything of
value," or whatever they call money and goods given to government
officials and employees. Limiting campaign contributions is a matter
for campaign finance laws, because there is no conflict of interest
involved.<br>
<br>
Or is there? It is a conflict of interest to accept (and, not often

I <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/462&quot; target="”_blank”">recently reported</a> that the Oklahoma Ethics Commission was considering suing the legislature for more funds, on the ground that the state constitution requires adequate funding for the EC, and the legislature had, among other limits, permitted it to have only one investigator.

One goal of campaign finance reform is to end the appearance and reality
of corruption that comes with large campaign contributions. This
appearance is attached especially to large contributions from those
doing business with the city or trying to change its laws --
contractors, lobbyists, and unions. This appearance is most serious when the position has fiduciary obligations and is supposed to be independent rather than representative, such as the New York City Comptroller.<br>
<br>

One of the interesting things about the attorney-client privilege in a
government setting is that the privilege -- which is, of course, the
client's, not the lawyer's -- is held by the office, not by the
individual
holding the office at the time of the communication. This is a major
reason why the attorney-client privilege is
different in a government context:  whenever a government
official tells something to a government attorney, the official knows
that his or her successor might waive the privilege and disclose the

[This blog entry has been substantially changed based on a response from the Phoenix City Manager, who provided information about the reasons for the City Attorney's position and the relationship of the City Attorney with the mayor.]<br>
<br>
Phoenix's City Attorney determined, according to <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2008/07/04/20080704…; target="”_blank”">an