What do you do when you are not the only member of your immediate
family who is an elected official? This question arose in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_County,_MD&quot; target="”_blank”">Frederick
County, MD</a>, the home of Camp David.<br>
<br>

More from Madison. According to <a href="http://www.channel3000.com/entertainment/25375284/detail.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article
last month on the Channel3000.com website</a>, a stagehands
union sent 28 copies of a book on creating and maintaining healthy arts
organizations to members of the Madison council and members of an ad hoc
committee on the future of the city's arts center. The union insists

There are some interesting ethics issues being raised in Madison, Wisconsin.<br>
<br>
The mayor of Madison was asked
to co-chair a committee that will be raising funds to sponsor a
national conference of urban designers and developers to be held in
Madison. One job for the mayor would be to send out
fundraising letters and follow up with phone calls to companies and
individuals, including some that do business with the city.<br>
<br>
The mayor responsibly asked for an advisory opinion before accepting

Although the ethics proceedings involving Rep. Charles Rangel (NY) are
at the federal level, there is a lot to be learned from them that is
relevant at the local level.<br>
<br>
Yesterday, Mr. Rangel walked out of a meeting of the adjudicatory
subcommittee of the House ethics committee, insisting that he could not
afford a lawyer and asking for an extension. He has apparently run up
$2 million in legal fees, and his lawyers ended their representation of
him when he could not pay. Pro bono counsel is not allowed because it

This post will be of special interest to those who enjoy the occasional ironies
that arise in the world of government ethics. According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/nyregion/13black.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in today's New York <i>Times</i></a>, the woman named to be New York
City's new schools chancellor has decided to resign from her positions

Prof. Patricia Salkin, director of the<a href="http://www.albanylaw.edu/sub.php?navigation_id=668&quot; target="”_blank”"> Government
Law Center</a> at Albany
Law School and author of the <a href="http://lawoftheland.wordpress.com&quot; target="”_blank”">Law of the Land blog</a>, has

Update: The bill (2010-616) was passed unanimously by the Finance Committee on Tuesday, leaving it on the consent agenda for next Tuesday's full City of Jacksonville Council meeting: 11/23/2010 @ 5pm<br>

<b>A Resignation from an Ethics Board for a Possible Future Conflict</b><br>
A member of the Philadelphia Board of Ethics resigned recently,
according to <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/city/20101021_Nolan_N__Atkin…; target="”_blank”">an
article
in the Philadelphia <i>Inquirer</i></a>. The reason for his

<br>
Vernon, CA, the subject of several blog posts here (click <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/update-vernon-ultimate-company-town&q…; target="”_blank”">here</a>
for the latest), has been the object of criminal investigations, but
now local officials are starting to get creative in response to the
most creatively imagined city in the U.S.<br>
<br>

One group of individuals with a great deal of power in local government
is not covered by local ethics codes or the other aspects of local
ethics programs. That group consists of officers of local political
parties.<br>
<br>
Sometimes a party chair is the most powerful individual in the city or
county, the individual who selects candidates and, if an elected official is disloyal, throws party support to another candidate in the next primary.
In other situations, the party chair is the mouthpiece for the mayor or