<br>
<b>Update:</b> March 1, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
The political activity of ethics commission members, staff, and ethics
officers is an important topic. The issue has arisen this week with
respect to Connecticut's <a href="http://www.ct.gov/ethics/site/default.asp&quot; target="”_blank”">Office of State Ethics</a>,

Disclosure is almost always about what the public should know. But
there is another side to disclosure: what the official should know.
This is especially important in pay-to-play.<br>
<br>
The idea for this blog post came from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/magazine/21FOB-ethicist-t.html&quot; target="”_blank”">Randy
Cohen's

<b>"Really they are just trying to exercise their First Amendment rights."</b><br>
John LaRue, counsel to individuals and entities contending that San
Diego's campaign finance laws restrict their free speech rights under
the First Amendment (see my <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/important-local-campaign-finance-deci…; target="”_blank”">recent
blog post</a> on the case)<br>

Especially in small towns, bankers often have business relationships
with many people and, therefore, do not make the best board and
commission members on account of the many conflicts they have or, more
frequently, the appearance of impropriety.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101280355&quot; target="”_blank”">an

(In a debate about a revolving door provision, also known as a "cooling
off period")<br>
<br>
<b>"You do not take pizza from the oven and put it straight in your
mouth. I believe that we should not take our
legislative service and put it right in our own mouth."</b><br>
<br>

It's worth noting two <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/17/AR20100…; target="”_blank”">Washington
Post-ABC News poll</a> questions concerning the Citizens United decision
on corporate-funded independent expenditures. Most notable is the fact
that the reaction was roughly the same across the political spectrum.
The ruling was opposed by 85% of Democrats polled, 76% of Republicans,

Special Counsel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_S._Bennett&quot; target="”_blank”">Robert S. Bennett</a>'s
<a href="http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/files/2010/02/bennett…; target="”_blank”">report</a>
on the District of Columbia council's earmark grants and personal services

Your big brother is a powerful member of city council, and you're just
a deputy city clerk. There's got to be more than this! So you retire,
take your pension of $68,000, and run for state representative, with
all the support your brother and his friends can provide, adding
another $86,000 in salary and the prospect of a second government
pension. Not bad.<br>
<br>
But not enough. You set up a lobbying firm, "to help businesses engage"
with the city, and you let your partner engage with the state, since

It's only been six weeks since <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/campaign-finance-suit-san-diego&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote</a> about a campaign finance suit in
San Diego, filed by the Republican
Party of San Diego County, a former City Council candidate, a
pro-business group, a union PAC, and a pollster. Yesterday the federal

One thing I have scarcely mentioned in my blog are ethical rules
related to a local board or commission when it is acting in a
quasi-judicial manner. I mentioned the common-law conflicts in such
circumstances in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/court-decision-focuses-reasons-behind…; target="”_blank”">a
recent
blog post</a>, as well as the absolute immunity given to the