The Timing and Content of Withdrawal from Participation
Timing is everything. That is the principal lesson to be learned from a conflict situation in West Palm
Beach, FL.
City Related
Conflicts of Interest
September 10, 2013
When One Side Might Be Harmed by a Conflict, So Might the Other
It's sad that it
took the Appellate Division of New York state's Supreme Court
(not the top court in the state) to disqualify a town attorney from
a case when that attorney's firm had represented the opposing party in a matter substantially related to the case.
September 7, 2013
A New D.C. Ethics Reform Bill
On April 17, the District of Columbia ethics board filed
recommendations for ethics reform with the council (see my
blog post on the recommendations). Council member Kenyan R.
McDuffie has introduced a bill that includes some of these
recommendations (attached; see below).
Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play
September 4, 2013
Local Public Financing Programs Make Elections More Local
When people write about public campaign financing programs, they
tend to focus on participation percentages and the size of the
campaign contributions.
Ethics Commissions & Administration
September 3, 2013
An Advisory Opinion Concerning Constituent Services
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
the
section of my book Local Government Ethics Programs on general
advisory opinions).
Ethics Codes & Reform
August 30, 2013
Should the Josephson Institute's Principles of Public Ethics Be Enforceable Rules?
Should the Josephson Institute's Five
Principles of Public Ethics be enforceable by a local
government? And if not, why not?
Ethics Codes & Reform
August 7, 2013
It's Gray Between the Cracks
Gifts to a local official can fall between jurisdictional cracks, as
shown in an
article today in the New York Times. They can also fall between
definitional cracks. And between these cracks it's gray.
The article reports that, a couple of years ago, Newark NJ's mayor, Cory Booker, who is running for U.S. Senate, was given money by several high-tech executives to found a high-tech company.
The article reports that, a couple of years ago, Newark NJ's mayor, Cory Booker, who is running for U.S. Senate, was given money by several high-tech executives to found a high-tech company.
Ethics Commissions & Administration
August 6, 2013
EC vs. IG: A Battle It's Better Not to Have
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.
August 5, 2013
A City Land Sale That Requires a Broader Investigation
Here's an interesting case study from Hartford, CT. The facts come
from an
NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters post from Friday and a
report of the city's Chief Auditor dated June 27, 2013.
July 29, 2013
Local IG Makes Charges About Campaign Treasurer Acting As Auditor
On Friday, New Orleans' Inspector General, who works for the city's ethics board, sent off two
letters relating to the auditor for the Orleans Parish sheriff's
office.