City Ethics
Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Quote of the Day

Anonymous
Advisory Opinions

<h4>"The code of conduct guiding U.S. judges is not technically binding
on Supreme Court justices. But we choose to follow it. The Judicial
Conference [of the United States] has a committee on judicial ethics
that will give advisory opinions to judges who have questions about
whether something is ethical. I always check with that committee.
... [An example of a question, answer, and handling of the
situation.] ... that’s an example of how I’m insulated by that
committee."</h4><br>
—U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, from an interview
in <a href="http://chqdaily.com/2013/07/29/lawyers-and-opera-supreme-court-edition/…; target="”_blank”">yesterday's
<i>Chautauquan (NY) Daily</i></a>. What's wonderful about what Justice
Ginsburg said is (1) she follows ethics rules she is not legally bound by, (2) she
seeks (and values) ethics advice even though she doesn't have to,
(3) the ability to seek independent, professional advice makes her
feel "insulated," that is, protected from making mistakes regarding
the handling of conflicts of interest, and (4) she recognizes that
she is capable of making such mistakes.<br>
<br>

What Justice Ginsburg said sums up the value for local officials of
having an ethics officer. Like Justice Ginsburg, when a local official
does not have one, she can seek one out even though it is not
required and even though the ethics officer has no jurisdiction over
the official.<br>
<br>
If local officials were to go to the state ethics commission or to
another city or county's ethics officer, not only would they not
engage in ethical misconduct, but they would recognize the value of
seeking ethics advice (that wonderful "insulation") and, eventually, ethics
officers would start insisting that the officials' jurisdiction hire
its own ethics officer or pay for the service. And this might
actually occur.<br>
<br>
Also see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/remedy-lack-ethics-training-and-advic…; target="”_blank”">a
2011 blog post on Justice Ginsburg's valuable statements</a> about
ethics training and advice in a dissent opinion.<br>

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