County Related

Here's a what-not-to-do scenario of a sort that is too rarely
included in ethics training. And yet it's one that could save a lot
of officials, as well as ethics programs, a great deal of trouble,
and help maintain public trust in local government.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/03/3604034/miamis-carollo-challenges…; target="”_blank”">an

Ethics provisions dealing with contracts often ignore
subcontractors. This leaves open a big loophole, through which an
official can get a big piece of a contract by hiding behind a
contractor. This is part of a larger problem: ignoring indirect benefits.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.stlbeacon.org/?_escaped_fragment_=/content/32605/subcontract…; target="”_blank”">an

Appearances are very important in government ethics. A situation
that has arisen with respect to a proposed state audit of the Palm
Beach County ethics commission has created serious appearance
problems.<br>
<br>

I don't get it. Such a big deal has been made out of the Bell, CA
officials paying themselves big bucks. This was considered the big
local government ethics story of the last few years. The Los Angeles
<i>Times</i> won a Pulitizer Prize for uncovering it.<br>
<br>
Yes, what happened in Bell was appalling. But <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal&quot; target="”_blank”">what

Officials and lawyers tend to act as if they were Platonists. That
is, they talk about conflicts of interest as if they existed in a
ideal form, divorced from reality.<br>
<br>
Many government ethicists, including me, see conflicts of interest
as things that exist in the real world, a world where the public
is concerned that officials seek to use their office to help
themselves and those with whom they have special relationships, such
as family members and business associates. What is odd about the

<h4>“These are, as far as I’m concerned, the everyday things and
courtesies that are done in life.”</h4><br>

In February, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/search/node/%22nonviolence%20and%20government…

On November 29, Florida State University’s LeRoy Collins
Institute and the new good government group Integrity Florida
released <a href="http://www.integrityfl.org/county-ethics-report/&quot; target="”_blank”">a report
entitled "Florida Counties Bridge the Ethics Policy Gap"</a>,
which<em> </em>analyzes the results of a survey of government
ethics programs and reforms in 45 of Florida’s 67 counties.<br>
<br>

One of the most important ways of preventing ethical misconduct
usually does not appear in an ethics code, because it does not involve a
traditional conflict of interest. I am referring to non-legislative
roles played by local legislators, especially roles that enable them
to create a pay-to-play environment. These roles are played in the two
principal areas where ethical misconduct occurs:  procurement
and land use decisions.<br>
<br>
In past blog posts, I have focused on

According to <a href="http://www.newschannel5.com/story/19649529/conflict-of-interest-questio…; target="”_blank”">an
investigative article on Nashville's WTVF-TV site yesterday
evening</a>, a former property assessor had help from a
developer in disposing of her home and buying one from the
developer, and also undervalued nine of the developer's properties by a