When it comes to government ethics, too often lawyers are nowhere to be
seen, unless they are the ones saying that unethical conduct is legal.
Far too often, lawyers do not use their knowledge, their strong, independent
personalities, and their professional
obligations to stand up to, or at least question, those acting
unethically.<br>
<br>
A horrible example of this, a cautionary tale that every law student
should read in the first year, occurred when all the lawyers in the

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Things are moving along well with the Palm Beach County ethics
initiative, which I've written about in earlier blog posts (<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/palm-beach-county-business-coalition-…; target="”_blank”">1</a> 

"Ceremonial function" is one of those terms that is found in many local
government ethics codes (but not the <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/full-text-model-ethics-code&quot; target="”_blank”">City
Ethics Model Code</a>). However, it is rarely defined except, occasionally, in advisory opinions. The term is generally used to exclude certain gifts from
being either disclosed or considered gifts at all. The result is lots

On Independence Day weekend, it's worth remembering that independence
does not come cheap, and that there are some things that are more
important than independence.<br>
<br>
One of those things is the public trust. There is a serious cost to our society
when government officials place their independence from ethics
enforcement above the public trust, that is, when government
officials insist on legislative immunity.
And there is a cost to officials, too:  their trial not

Honesty, although central to ethics, is not central to government
ethics. The reason for this is that honesty, or falsity, is so complex,
it is almost impossible to define or enforce. And first amendment
freedom of speech places so many limitations on government regulation
of expression short of libel (the intentional attempt to falsely
destroy another's reputation). Life is full of mistakes
and misreadings, half-truths and kernels of truth, and these do not
constitute falsity. Honesty comes in more shades of gray than a

The great majority of what is written about legislative redistricting
focuses on state and federal redistricting. But many cities, even some
towns, have districts too, and resetting district boundaries is an
important political process designed to prevent public participation and to undermine public trust.<br>
<br>
<em> </em>In January, an advisory board of experts and representatives
of good government groups got together to articulate principles of

Time Limitations on Ethics Proceedings in Louisiana, and Why They're Bad

The confidentiality, or transparency, of local government ethics complaints and
proceedings is a funny topic. Most of the time, government officials
want as much confidentiality as possible. They don't want ethical
issues concerning them to be mentioned in public.<br>
<br>
But there are times when they want to
be able to blast those who file complaints against them, and then they
favor transparency. In other words, which side they're on does not
involve policy, but their self-interest. It's amazing how often

You be the judge. According to <a href="http://blogs.ajc.com/georgia_elections_news/2010/06/18/ethics-commissio…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Atlanta <i>Journal-Constitution</i></a>, a board member of a
Georgia-based insurance company set up ten PACs in Alabama that
together gave $120,000 — ten times the legal limit — to a candidate for

According to a letter (attached; see below) from a Fort Lauderdale attorney hired to provide a second opinion on the constitutionality of a lobbying provision in the proposed Broward County ethics code, the Broward county attorney (who wrote the first opinion) has decided not to continue seeking a declaratory judgment due to its cost to the county and the likelihood that a decision would be too late to serve its purpose (see <a href="http://ww