I make a great effort to be nonpartisan in choosing what and whom I
write about. I am an unaffiliated voter who
believes in nonpartisan local government. But yesterday, the Republican
Party took a strong stand against government ethics and, in its most
important statement in years, totally ignored it.<br>
<br>

<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/poor-draftmanship-and-poor-ethics&quot; target="”_blank”">When
I wrote about the disclosure controversy in Suffolk County</a> back in
July, I didn't realize that another interesting ethics issue was going
on there. In late June, the county legislature had instituted an
investigation of the county ethics commission. One reason for this

In Milwaukee County, according to <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/103255159.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in Sunday's <i>Journal-Sentinel</i></a>, a county supervisor is
seeking to add to <a href="http://www.milwaukeecounty.org/ETHICSBOARD8460.htm&quot; target="”_blank”">the county

Those who, like me, are fascinated by Vernon, California, the ultimate
company town, with an ethical environment that breaks nearly all the rules, will be happy to know that it was given a long treatment in <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0919-fortress-vernon-20100918,0…; target="”_blank”">a
front-page
article in Sunday's Los Angeles <i>Times</i></a>. There are no

I'm always fascinated by the myriad ways in which local governments
approach ethics reform. <a href="http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/League-of-Women-Voters-Green…; target="”_blank”">An
article
in the Greenwich <i>Time</i> last week sheds some light</a> on the
state of ethics reform in
Greenwich, CT. (Disclosure: my brother lives in Greenwich, but is not

The Supreme Court has been nibbling away at campaign finance laws for
years now, but the one thing all but one of the justices agree on is
that requiring the disclosure of contributions does not infringe on
first amendment speech rights.<br>
<br>

<b>Targeting Ethics Reform</b><br>
In May, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/cook-county-ethics-reform-proposal&qu…; target="”_blank”">a
blog post</a> about ethics reforms proposed by a Cook County (IL)
commissioner. I felt they didn't have much chance of passing.<br>
<br>

Who is the best sort of individual to select as an ethics commission
member?  Some people believe it's a member of the clergy, because
who else is more ethical? And there are many clergy members on ethics
commissions across the country. But this shows either a
misunderstanding of government ethics (that it's about being good
rather than dealing responsibly with conflicts of interest) or a
preference for appearances, even if it gives the public the wrong
impression about what government ethics is all about.<br>
<br>

Forget the fascinating range of ethics programs at the local level. It is congressional
ethics programs that get the national attention. And with all this attention, what Congress does, and fails to do, has a great effect not
only on what happens at the local level, but also on the rhetoric
employed there.<br>
<br>
When Congress self-administered its own ethics, every council or county
commission member could say that if self-regulation is good enough for
Congress, it's good enough for them. Only legislative bodies, the

Four years after I wrote a blog post entitled <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/133&quot; target="”_blank”">The Ethics of Today's
Municipal Pension Plan Problems</a>, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/opinion/11kramer.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
op-ed piece in the New York Times</a>, New Jersey agreed with the