City Related

My state, Connecticut, has just added itself to the at least 14 states
that provide for public official pension forfeiture. Like some of the
other states, its new law covers municipal officials.<br>
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Pension forfeiture is the capital punishment of government
ethics.  It makes legislators look like they care about ethics,
and it makes people feel that justice has been done. And with all these
"good" emotions sparking supportive editorials, few think about the

Who should be on a local government pension board? Should conflicts of
interest be taken into account? These two questions are closely
interrelated, because the common answer seems to be that those with the
greatest conflict are also the most appropriate members.<br>
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There are two values at odds here:  letting employees and retirees
manage their own pensions, and the public interest in having tax
dollars handled by disinterested and competent individuals.<br>
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Once again, California is in the vanguard.  This time, it's blogs
by mayors, city managers, and other local government officials (for
list, click<span></span> <a href="http://californiacitynews.typepad.com/californiacitynewsorg/cityblogs.h…; target="”_blank”">here</a>;
not all of these are government officials' blogs, but many are and it's
not hard to tell them apart).<br>
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The standard of proof for determining whether an ethical violation
occurred has become an issue in Louisiana's ethics reform. After
looking at several local government ethics codes, as well as the
ethics codes of the states that have jurisdiction over local government
officials, I don't think standards of proof have become <span>enough
</span>of an issue in most jurisdictions.<br>
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In the materials I have found online, Speech or Debate Clause issues are discussed in terms of state legislators (and usually state constitutions), even though the federal Speech or Debate Clause applies equally to local government legislators. But the discussions are all relevant to local government situations.<br>
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I will continue to add to this list, and I'd appreciate receiving information about other discussions of these issues.<br>
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The Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One doesn't like
having to get approval from the federal government for changes in its
voting policy, in order to prevent racial discrimination; it says that
everything's fine and dandy in Northwest Austin. The requirement can be
found in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, extended in 2006.<br>
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NAMUDNO, which apparently doesn't think the Voting Rights Act should
have been extended, because racial discrimination is a thing of the

The land deals of Congressman Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar, CA) could
provide fodder for numerous blog entries on various topics. <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/230&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote about him and ethics
recidivism</a>, to show how important it is to deal with a local
politician's unethical actions so that they don't turn into much bigger
ones as he rises through the ranks.<br>
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Six weeks after<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/410&quot; target="”_blank”"> my blog
entry</a> on the mass resignations in Eastern Oregon towns due to new
financial disclosure requirements, the predictions of government coming
to an end (still being fanned to flames by <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,358524,00.html&quot; target="”_blank”">Fox News</a>)

It took a long time for Egil "Bud" Krogh to write his book on
Watergate, but it finally came out a few months ago.<br>
<br>
Krogh is not one of the better known Watergaters, partly because he
pleaded guilty to his crimes. But as the head of the Plumbers, in
charge of investigating leaks to the press, he oversaw the break-in of
the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist. For years he has been

One of the most frustrating problems many cities and counties face is
all that untaxable land owned by nonprofit organizations. Some states,
such as my state, Connecticut, pay local governments part of what they
lose out in property taxes, but when things are hard, as now, and the
taxes are most sorely needed, there's less in the kitty to hand out.<br>
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