Election time makes public many ethics situations that make valuable case studies. One involves Florida gubernatorial candidate
Rick Scott.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/oct/28/rick-scott-solantic-investig…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Naples (FL) <i>News</i></a>, there is reason to believe that

Hidden in the middle of <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/charter/html/home/home.shtml&quot; target="”_blank”">Question 2
on the New York City ballot</a> this week are two important changes in
the city's conflicts of interest law (to my knowledge, the nation's
only aptly named ethics code). The current conflicts of interest

<br>
U. S. Senate candidate for Connecticut Linda McMahon was, until she
announced her candidacy, the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment
(WWE), and her management of that company has been her principal
argument for electing her. <a href="http://corporate.wwe.com/2010_10_28.jsp&quot; target="”_blank”">WWE announced yesterday</a>
that it will be "giving away WWE merchandise near select Connecticut
poll locations on Election Day."<br>

Consultants often fall between the cracks of government ethics. They
are contractors, but professionals rather than suppliers or
construction companies, and they often act just like government
officials, only they're not on the payroll. And yet the ethics rules
that apply to government officials often do not apply to consultants.
Often, ethics commissions don't even have jurisdiction over consultants.<br>
<br>

Here's an interesting twist. The mayor of Watervliet, Michigan (pop.
1,900) resigned in protest after the city commission interviewed one of
its own members for the apparently paid position of city treasurer, according to <a href="http://heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/10/26/local_news/2253525.txt&q…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the <i>Herald Palladium</i> on Tuesday</a>.<br>
<br>

In the October 28 issue of the <i>New York Review of Books</i>, there is <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/oct/28/moral-brink/&quot; target="”_blank”">an
essa</a>y by the excellent South African novelist J. M. Coetzee on

More election-related news. Here are two arguments against an amendment to the Utah constitution
that, if approved by voters on November 2, would establish a partially independent legislative ethics
commission. The arguments are made in an <a href="http://vote.utah.gov/on-my-ballot/issue-details/issue/177461382&quot; target="”_blank”">official
ballot
issue publication</a> of the state of Utah.<br>
<br>

I learned recently that the Luzerne County (PA) ethics pledge movement,
which I wrote about in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/comparison-two-county-ethics-initiati…; target="”_blank”">May</a>
and <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/ethics-pledge-thats-too-much-and-too-…; target="”_blank”">September</a>,

What is the worst local campaign finance violation? According to <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/crime/ci_16429092&quot; target="”_blank”">an article yesterday
from the Los Angeles <i>Daily News</i></a>, it appears to be political money
laundering. Mark Abrams, a former Beverly Hills developer, was fined
$108,000 yesterday, and $270,000 for similar violations back in 2005.<br>
<br>

All ethics oversight cannot be done by an ethics commission. Much
oversight needs to be done outside of the complaint process. Even when
complaints are made, a lack of proper oversight can leave a big hole in
the facts available to an EC. I came across such a situation in <a href="http://www2.tricities.com/news/2010/oct/24/role-firefighters-wrecking-s…; target="”_blank”">yesterday's
Bristol