City Related

<b>Party Committee Members on EC</b><br>
According to <a href="http://www.courant.com/community/newington/hc-newington-no-ethics-compl…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Hartford <i>Courant</i> this week</a>, a Newington, CT
mayoral candidate, and council minority leader, who has made ethics
allegations against the incumbent mayor has chosen not to file an

<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/functional-definition-government-empl…; target="”_blank”">A
recent City Ethics blog post</a> discusses the value of a
functional definition of a government employee with respect to
government ethics. That is, a private individual who does government
work for the government has the same obligations to the community as
a government employee.<br>
<br>

It's exciting to read a column on a local government ethics matter that shows as deep understanding and as clear explanation as <a href="http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/clear+conflict+interest…; target="”_blank”">the
column by Ottawa <i>Citizen</i> editorial board member Mohammed
Adam</a> that appeared yesterday. The column focuses on the problems that arise when a

There are two interesting wrinkles in the Forest Park, GA case I
wrote about in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/problems-ec-jurisdiction-over-charter…; target="”_blank”">the

It is unethical for a local official to violate a law, especially
the city or county charter. But such a violation is usually not a
government ethics violation, because it has nothing to do with conflicts
of interest. It may be a misuse of office, but it is not a misuse of office to benefit oneself, one's family, or one's business associates.<br>
<br>
And yet some ethics codes contain a provision making a
legal or charter violation an ethics violation. Here is one from

There is a fact of life that is very hard for many local elected
officials to admit:  most of the campaign contributions given
to incumbents and serious challengers come from two sources: 
those seeking special benefits from the government and those who
work for the government (and their unions). If both of these groups
were not permitted to make campaign contributions, local elections
would be contested with very little money, unless the government
instituted a public campaign financing program.<br>
<br>

Here's an interesting local government ethics scenario from Ottawa
that deals with the often neglected oversight relationship. According to
<a href="http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/conflict+marriage+between+transportat…; target="”_blank”">an

There is usually another side of
the coin, and that other side is often ignored in drafting a government ethics code. The
other side of the nepotism coin came up recently in an ethics
proceeding in Stamford, CT.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Ethics-probe-targets-finan…; target="”_blank”">an

"It was like dandelions. You just accept them. They were there,
something you've seen all your life."<br>
<br>
Dandelions are a perfect metaphor for institutional corruption. In
this case, the dandelions were extra payments (beyond those due to
retirees) made by Detroit's two pension funds, to active employees
(54%), retirees (14%), and the city itself (32%), the latter to

There is a great deal of misunderstanding concerning the difference
between a conflict of interest and a gift. It appears that most
people consider them two completely different things. In fact, they
represent two kinds of conflicts, pre-existing conflicts and
conflicts that are created by an event. The confusion between the two
characterizes a situation that led to an ethics complaint in Los
Angeles.<br>
<br>