The ethics war in San Diego is heating up. It has escalated from elected
officials pointing out problems they have with <a href="http://www.sandiego.gov/ethics/">the
city's ethics commission</a> to the future existence of the EC. The
latest battle presents an excellent window into the mindset of those who
oppose government ethics, especially, in this case, the enforcement of campaign finance
rules.<br>
<br>

(<b>Update:</b> March 1, 2010: Also see this <a href="http://jacksonville.com/opinion/editorials/2010-02-28/story/ethics_code… <i>Times-Union</i> editorial </a>on the importance of an independent ethics commission that has authority over independent authorities. A particularly valuable observation: "The city Ethics Commission needs the ability to obtain independent legal advice.

Almost three years ago, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/289">a blog post</a> about the
scandal that rocked my town, North Haven, CT. Since then, one of the two arrested department
heads, the finance director, was given accelerated
rehabilitation (lenient probation) because he turned state's evidence.
The other department head, and his wife, who was his assistant, spent
years delaying trial, and then also asked for accelerated

India and China have not only been the home of new varieties of
entrepreneurialism. In these countries, creative individuals have also come up with
novel approaches to dealing with local government corruption.<br>
<br>
An expatriate Indian physics professor in the U.S. came up with the
brilliant idea of a Zero-Rupee Note to hand out in situations where
local officials expect or ask for bribes.<br>
<br>

<br>
Cheryl Forchilli, chair of the <a href="http://www.ethics.state.fl.us/&quot; target="”_blank”">Florida
Commission on Ethics</a> (which deals with local government ethics),
wrote a <em></em><a href="http://floridathinks.com/florida-issues/florida-issues/ethics-watchdog-…; target="”_blank”">must-read

It is a truism of government ethics that a sense of entitlement is an
important cause of unethical conduct. People who feel entitled to the
power they wield feel they have the right to deviate from ethical norms
in ways others do not (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/100&quot; target="”_blank”">my blog post</a> on this
topic). Now there is research that supports this view.<br>
<br>

<br>
Never a dull moment in Chicago. According to <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-carothers-plead-2010020…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Chicago <i>Tribune</i></a>, a now-former alderman has pleaded
guilty to bribery and tax fraud charges relating to $40,000 in work done on
his home by a developer whose development he backed. This makes him the

<b>Update:</b> February 19, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
This blog post is about Chicago, and things are more complicated in
Chicago than in other American municipalities. So please read slowly
and carefully.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/ct-met-daley-deputy-qu…; target="”_blank”">an

Should ethics commission members follow ethics laws to the letter, and
no further, or should they provide leadership and a role model by going
beyond legalism and instead acting ethically? State EC members in New York and
Georgia are telling the world by their actions and their words that only the letter of
the law matters in government ethics.<br>
<br>

When the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives says, "the
American people don’t care about process" in <a href="http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/transcript-of-pelosi-presser/">a
news
conference</a> (the context was the process surrounding the health
care bill), this topic, which is central not only to government ethics,
but to our legal and political system, is worth focusing on.<br>
<br>