County Related

What responsibility does a candidate have to check on those who make
contributions to his or her campaign? Is there a greater responsibility
when the candidate is running for a law enforcement position, from
sheriff to D.A. to judge?<br>
<br>
These questions were raised with respect to a situation in Dallas County, where the
sheriff accepted large contributions from two convicted felons,

What do you do when an ethics commission is moribund? Sadly, few people
know and few people care. That is the norm. Rarely does an official
complain publicly, "I have no one to give me good ethics advice." She
just goes to the city or county attorney, or makes the decision
herself. Rarely does anyone complain that there is no ethics training
or nowhere to file an ethics complaint. And certainly no official
complains that he doesn't have to file a financial disclosure form
anymore.<br>
<br>

<b>Update:</b> August 9, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
You've got to hand it to them:  Broward County (FL) commissioners don't
give up. Some of them have fought and fought against the prospect of
having <a href="http://www.broward.org/EthicsCommission/Documents/CodeofEthics2010%20-%…; target="”_blank”">a
new ethics code</a>, written by the county ethics commission. August 10

<b>Updates:</b> August 4 and 9, 2010 (see below)<br>
I was just saying to someone the other day that the worst offenses in
local government ethics do not involve money. The worst offenses in
local government ethics involve intimidation, which causes people to lose their peace of mind, their reputations, and the feeling that they may participate in their local government, things no amount of money can buy. And yet it is the rare ethics
complaint or arrest that primarily involves intimidation. Well, this

A failure to deal responsibly with one's conflicts of interest has
ramifications beyond the loss of public trust, and all the serious
problems that arise from this loss. This failure can also lead to
litigation and the overturning of actions by local government officials.<br>
<br>
A good example of this can be seen in the case of <a href="http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/docs/Spring10/35274.htm&quot; target="”_blank”">Rissler v.

<b>Note:</b> I completely rewrote this post after Mark Davies set me straight about the state law on which disclosure forms an official must file.<br>
<br>

How many wrongs does it take to make a right?<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-wasserman-rubin-resigns-cha…; target="”_blank”">a
<i>Sun-Sentinel</i>
article</a>, a county commissioner in Broward County, home
of Ft. Lauderdale, resigned on Tuesday after being arrested on seven

<br><br>
Things are moving along well with the Palm Beach County ethics
initiative, which I've written about in earlier blog posts (<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/palm-beach-county-business-coalition-…; target="”_blank”">1</a> 

What do the BP oil spill and local government ethics have in common?
Kenneth Feinberg.<br>
<br>
This week, Feinberg was chosen to work out the BP oil spill claims, and
<a href="http://www.maricopa.gov/Clk_Board/BoardDocument.aspx?ID=6e52df47-3adb-4…; target="”_blank”">today
he
is expected to be hired</a> to work out the claims against Maricopa

<b>Update:</b> June 18, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
In a memo dated June 14, 2010 (attached; see below), the Broward County
(FL) county attorney told the <a href="http://www.broward.org/Commission/Pages/default.aspx&quot; target="”_blank”">county
commission</a> that lobbying provisions in the county ethics