City Related

According to a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/nyregion/23empire.html&quot; target="”_blank”">New
York <span>Times</span> article</a> last
week, hundreds of lawyers in New York State who have done consulting
work for local school districts allowed themselves to be listed as
part-time employees and allowed themselves to be enrolled in the school

Last week, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/washington/25epa.html&quot; target="”_blank”">the New
York <span>Times</span> reported </a>that
for six months the White House refused to open an e-mail from the
Environmental Protection Agency, a report stating that greenhouse gases
are pollutants that must be controlled. The White House considered the EPA report to

The Internet provides all sorts of opportunities for both transparency
and citizen feedback. One way, which <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/453&quot; target="”_blank”">I pointed out recently</a>,
is for local government officials to have blogs that allow them to
present their news and views, and allow citizens to respond and ask
questions.<br>
<br>
Two other approaches have just been taken by towns near where I live.<br>

Two years after allegations made by the Baltimore <span>Sun</span>, two years after state
prosecutors began an investigation, a year and a half after being
appointed mayor (after being city council president), and six months
after being elected mayor, Baltimore's Sheila Dixon's alleged favoring of friends and family has been brought

Money is not only the root of much of the evil in government ethics, it is also
the lifeblood of government ethics. Without money, ethics commissions,
at least in cities and states, as opposed to towns, cannot do their job.<br>
<br>
Do something the legislative body doesn't like and it has a good way to
get back at you: cut off your funds or fail to fund your new
obligations. At budget time, government ethics commissions, no
matter how independent, often become just another political football.<br>
<br>

Too many of my blog entries look at instances where things did not go
right. One reason is that when things do go right, no one talks about
them. Another reason is that so often ethics problems are not handled
very well.<br>
<br>
So it's nice to read about the proper handling of a conflict situation
in Superior, Wisconsin. I suppose when you live in a town with this
name, your aspirations are greater than most cities'.<br>
<br>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/nyregion/23da.html&quot; target="”_blank”">An
article on the front page</a> of today's <i>New York Times</i> presents us with an
opportunity to focus on the special ethical responsibilities of prosecutors, and other local
government attorneys.<br>
<br>
An assistant district attorney in Manhattan, Daniel Bibb, was asked to

<p>Should an agreement between an ethics
commission and a respondent, which ends an ethics proceeding, include
an acknowledgment by the respondent that he violated the ethics law?<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/229231/&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette</a>, former Arkansas
Governor Mike Huckabee thinks not. The Arkansas Ethics Commission

If you were going to set up a local election system devoted to fairness
and to voters, how would you have registrars of voters selected? Would
you have them appointed or elected? Would you have them be party
members or nonpartisan?<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/458">Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.</a>
<br>
<br>
Let's start with electing registrars, as many Connecticut towns and

According to <a href="http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080616/NEWS01/306…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Cincinnati Enquirer,</a> a county commissioner in Ohio voted on
a contract that went to her non-dependent son, and she is being investigated by the Ohio Ethics Commission.<br>
<br>