What can a citizen do when a local government official falsely impugns
her reputation and retaliates against her due to her opposition to a
matter the official supports? The City Ethics Model Code has<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/full-text-model-ethics-code#0.1_TOC50…; target="”_blank”">
a provision that deals with an official falsely impugning a citizen's

The law on limiting campaign expenditures has been changing over the
past couple of years. But the law on limiting campaign contributions
has not.
The standard in many instances is more liberal than with campaign expenditures, in others it is the
same. And the application of the standard is highly contextual. A law in one jurisdiction, or at a particular time, might be constitutional, while in another jurisdiction, or at a different time, it is not.<br>
<br>
Contribution limits are an important part of government ethics,

A new way to obtain ethics reform is making some headway in New York
State. A number of former bigwigs, including former governor Mario
Cuomo, and former NYC mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani, have created an
organization called <a href="http://www.nyuprising.org">New York

According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/nyregion/17authorities.html?_r=1&ref=…; target="”_blank”">an
article
in yesterday's New York <i>Times</i></a>, the New York Governor’s Task
Force on Public Authorities Reform has filed its report (not yet

I've been writing a lot about the controversies surrounding a new
Broward County (FL) ethics code, but there's also been controversy in
the Broward County School District that is likely to lead to an ethics code of its own (according to <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/14/1775493/focus-on-ethics.html&quot; target="”_blank”">a
Miami

The defense of legislative immunity is not limited to city councilors and county
commissioners. It also can be used by non-legislative officials acting in a
legislative way. It may be used by planning and
zoning board members and officials, school board members, and a variety
of other officials involved in the creation of legislation or who act in a legislative manner.<br>
<br>
Here's an interesting case of a non-legislative official trying out a
defense of legislative immunity and, fortunately, failing. The official

Gifts from restricted sources, that is, from those doing business with
the local government (and their lobbyists), are exceptionally damaging, in that they make the public believe their officials can be bought or that their officials are running a pay-to-play government. It's too bad that at least some members of the Los Angeles ethics commission don't recognize this.<br>
<br>

The <a href="http://www.drpa.org&quot; target="”_blank”">Delaware River Port Authority</a>
(DRPA) has been getting a lot of heat lately. The bi-state organization
operates four toll bridges and a commuter system between
Philadelphia and southern New Jersey.<br>
<br>

Here's a good followup to <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/officials-possibly-conflicting-intere…; target="”_blank”">yesterday's
blog
post</a> about a conflict of interest in Tucson. In that post, I
argued that annual financial disclosure makes it clear that an
official's basic interests are public information, and said, "The goal

Recusal is a two-part process. First, the official discloses his
interest in a matter that has or will come before his board or agency.
Then, the official does not participate in that matter.<br>
<br>
In Tucson, this process was distorted by the involvement of a board
attorney. According to <a href="http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_e1581d0f-d71c…; target="”_blank”">an