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

It's amazing how powerless powerful politicians can be. Take New Jersey
state senate president Stephen M. Sweeney. According to <a href="http://www.eagleton.rutgers.edu/news/newsstories/10-01-24_CourierPost.p…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the <i>Courier-Post</i></a>, Sweeney is not only senate president,
but also director of his county's council (called the board of

<b>Can they convict him simply for failing to disclose information when
he had no duty to disclose? No Alaska law required it, and there's no
federal statute that requires it, so what did he do wrong?</b><br>
<br>
— Donald Ayer, attorney for former Alaska state representative Bruce
Weyhrauch (December 2009) (taken from <a href="http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=12703600&quot; target="”_blank”">an article on

<i>Image by Joe Wu</i><br>
<br>
Following up on <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/transparency-anonymity-and-moral-cour…
previous blog post</a>, here is the first of two examples
of local government ethics matters involving anonymity outside of an
internet context.<br>
<br>

In
<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/harassment-and-intimidation-governmen…
recent
blog post on Maricopa County</a>, I referred to the problem of
harassment and intimidation by government officials against other
government
officials and employees. I have also referred in the past to the even
more
serious problem of harassment, intimidation, and ad hominem attacks by

According to <a href="http://www.projo.com/ri/johnston/content/maselli_indictment_06-19-10_1S…; target="”_blank”">an
article
in the Providence <i>Journal</i></a>, <span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody">a Rhode Island state senator has been indicted on
federal charges that he falsified documents to get mortgages and an

What do the BP oil spill and local government ethics have in common?
Kenneth Feinberg.<br>
<br>
This week, Feinberg was chosen to work out the BP oil spill claims, and
<a href="http://www.maricopa.gov/Clk_Board/BoardDocument.aspx?ID=6e52df47-3adb-4…; target="”_blank”">today
he
is expected to be hired</a> to work out the claims against Maricopa