City Related

<h4>"None of the unions ever asked me for a quid pro quo. They, like
anyone else who is giving, they just want to know their points get
heard. They are not asking that you agree with it. They have said,
‘We don’t expect you to agree on everything. We understand it is a
negotiation.’”</h4><br>
—Toni Harp, candidate for mayor of New Haven, CT, on the $48,000 she
and the alderpersons effectively on her ticket were given by labor

Timing is everything. That is the principal lesson to be learned from a conflict situation in West Palm
Beach, FL. According to articles <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/west-palm-be…; target="”_blank”">in

It's sad that <a href="http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/ad2/calendar/webcal/decisions/2013…; target="”_blank”">it

On April 17, the District of Columbia ethics board filed
recommendations for ethics reform with the council (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/dc-ethics-boards-flawed-recommendatio…; target="”_blank”">my

When people write about public campaign financing programs, they
tend to focus on participation percentages and the size of the
campaign contributions. But what is most interesting about <a href="http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/mayors_race…; target="”_blank”">the
analysis done by the New Haven Independent</a> of campaign
contributions given to mayoral candidates participating and not

On August 29, the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability
issued an advisory opinion on the important and far too overlooked
topic of constituent services (attached; see below). The issuing of
advisory opinions that cover more than a very specific set of facts,
what I call "general advisory opinions," is itself very valuable (see

Should the Josephson Institute's <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=7_fX6iKfZeMC&printsec=frontcover#v=one…; target="”_blank”">Five
Principles of Public Ethics</a> be enforceable by a local
government? And if not, why not?<br>
<br>

Gifts to a local official can fall between jurisdictional cracks, as
shown in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/nyregion/tech-magnates-bet-on-booker-…; target="”_blank”">an
article today in the New York <i>Times</i></a>. They can also fall between
definitional cracks. And between these cracks it's gray.<br>
<br>

Once again, the failure to work out in advance the relationship
between an ethics commission and an inspector general's office has
led to the locking of horns in the midst of an ethics proceeding.
This time the location of the turf war is the District of Columbia.<br>
<br>

Here's an interesting case study from Hartford, CT. The facts come
from <a href="http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/investigations/Hartford-Councilman-Faces-…; target="”_blank”">an