According to <a href="http://www.tidewaternews.com/news/2010/jul/30/conflict-interest/&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article
in the Tidewater <i>News</i></a>, a Franklin (VA) council member
said at his first council meeting that he felt the city should stop
charging interest on delinquent property taxes, since so many taxpayers
are under financial duress. The council member happens to be one of

<b>Update:</b> August 2, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
I've long said that conflicts of interest should not be limited to
financial interests or, in other terms, situations where a possible
financial benefit or loss is involved (see, for example,<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/conflicts-interest-go-beyond-financia…; target="”_blank”">

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/there-meaningful-difference-between-m…; target="”_blank”">a
recent blog post</a>, I wrote about a federal third circuit decision
that a law prohibiting an ethics complainant from announcing the filing
of the complaint violates the complainant's first amendment rights.
This decision contradicts a second circuit decision that upheld a law

<b>Update: September 23, 2010</b> (see below)<br>
<br>
Lack of transparency and voter indifference, especially relating to
technical issues, are often considered minor issues not
central to local government ethics. What happened the last
few years in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell,_California&quot; target="”_blank”">Bell,
California</a> (pop. 37,000; Los Angeles County) should make people

<b>Update</b>: January 11, 2011 (see below)<br>
<br>
According to a July 2 unpublished opinion by Judge Flanagan of the Washoe County (NV)
district court, <i>Carrigan v. Commission on Ethics of the State of Nevada</i>
(attached; see below), a
city council member has a first amendment free speech right to vote
where
there is not "an actual, existing conflict of interest." (p. 13)<br>
<br>
Due process also comes into play in the opinion:  "In the

Yesterday, four Pennsylvania state representatives, two from each of
the major parties, announced a proposal to create a public integrity
commission that would have greater powers than the current state ethics
commission, and would jurisdiction over officials at all levels of government.<br>
<br>

According to <a href="http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2010/07/24/politics_and_elections/n…; target="”_blank”">an
article
in the <i>News-Tribune</i></a>, the governor of Missouri recently
signed <a href="http://www.senate.mo.gov/10info/pdf-bill/tat/SB844.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">an
ethics

“How he is treated is important. He’s going to fight for his name.
Rather than accept language he disagrees with, he would rather fight it
out. This is his life.”<br>
<br>
These are the words of an adviser to congressman Charles Rangel about
why his month-long settlement negotiations with the House Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct broke down.<br>
<br>

In researching a recent ethics complaint in <a href="http://www.myharlingen.us/default.aspx?name=homepage&quot; target="”_blank”">Harlingen,
Texas</a> (pop. 67,000), I came across some disturbing ethics matters. The most disturbing can be seen from <a href="http://www.myharlingen.us/docs/1-DevCorp_092909_regmtg.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">the

<b>Update:</b> October 22, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
Recently, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/political-use-ethics-complaints-and-m…; target="”_blank”">a
blog post</a> on the political use of ethics complaints and the
manipulation of the press. Yesterday, the third circuit court of
appeals effectively, and I think wrongly, disagreed with one of my