Model Code

What
do you do when an official discriminates against you by sicking a local
government inspector on you? This question was raised by David Owens in<span> </span><a href="http://sogweb.sog.unc.edu/blogs/localgovt/?p=2220&quot; target="”_blank”">a post on the
NC Local Government Law Blog.</a><br>
<br>

I've been meaning for a long time to take a long second look at the <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/full-text-model-ethics-code&quot; target="”_blank”">City
Ethics Model Code</a> provision on the <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/full-text-model-ethics-code#0.1_TOC42…; target="”_blank”">revolving

I recently <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/new-michigan-model-local-government-e…; target="”_blank”">critiqued</a>
the new <a href="http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,1607,7-164-34391-218887--,00.html&quot; target="”_blank”">Michigan
model local government ethics ordinance</a>. Mark Liss, a council

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/803&quot; target="”_blank”">yesterday's miscellany</a>,
I talked about an ethics commission member conflicted due to having
played a role in the campaign of an official brought before the
commission. There are two ways to deal with such a conflict. One is to
deal with it like any conflict, when it arises. The other is to prevent
the conflict from occurring.<br>
<br>

The biggest thing missing from ethics codes is lying. Everyone agrees
that a government official or employee who lies lacks integrity, but
ethics codes almost never prohibit this.<br>
<br>
It isn't that lying is okay, it's just very hard to enforce. Defending
a lie leads to more lies and other forms of dishonesty. It can get really
ugly.<br>
<br>

When I saw the lead headline in Wednesday's New York <span>Times,</span> "In Adopting Harsh Tactics,
No Inquiry into Past Use," I thought of local government ethics, even
though the article was about torture. Okay, I suppose I spend too much
time thinking about local government ethics, but bear with me for a
minute.<br>
<br>
The C.I.A. used, and the Justice Department approved, interrogation
methods that were used in American military training. If the methods

State or local ethics laws, state or local ethics training, state or local disclosure forms, state or local ethics enforcement? This is
probably the biggest issue in local government ethics. And it's a very
complicated one, which I have only rarely dealt with. There are
good (and bad) arguments on both sides, as well as practical, political,
constitutional, and funding considerations to take into account.<br>
<br>
I raise this matter not to deal with all its aspects, but due to

The controversy surrounding the New York State pension fund returned to
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/nyregion/20morris.html&quot; target="”_blank”">the
front page of the New York <span>Times</span></a>
today. The players are former state comptroller Alan Hevesi, his
political adviser Hank Morris, and pension fund investment officer
David Loglisci.<br>
<br>

Type "ethics" into the search line at utah.gov, and all that comes up
is Archery Ethics Course Online.<br>
<br>
In response to what are referred to in Utah as last year's "ethics wars," <a href="http://le.utah.gov/%7E2009/bills/hbillint/hb0159.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">a new
legislative ethics bill </a>has been drafted. What is interesting for

Sometimes, those who write or amend local government ethics codes forget to make it
clear exactly who is covered by an ethics code. Sometimes there is
discussion about who should have to file annual disclosure statements,
and sometimes there is discussion about whether volunteers should be
covered. But too often individuals and bodies not central to local
government are ignored.<br>