<b>Update: December 10, 2010</b> (see below)<br>
<br>
After all I've written about the immunity courts have given legislators from enforcement actions by ethics commissions, I now
can write about a court decision that gives ethics commissions and their
staff immunity from suits by respondents in ethics enforcement actions, in this case one for defamation against an ethics board's executive director.
The respondent in this case, however, is not a legislator, but a losing

<b>Update:</b> February 5, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
Here's an interesting dual position question, that is, a question
involving one individual holding two government positions. The most
important
conflict involved in dual positions is that you cannot consistently
fulfill
your fiduciary obligations to one constituency while fulfilling your

<br><p>Cities across the United States are creating and expanding Ethics Commissions, Ethics Offices and Inspector Generals in order to fight corruption and establish higher ethical standards for their governments. <br> <br> I will be posting some of the best ideas from these programs on this site. <br> <br> If you have comments on what is written, good, bad or just a stray idea, please comment! <br> <br> <br> <b>Carla Miller, president, City Ethics.</b></p><br><br><br><br>

<b>Update</b>: February 3, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
A <a href="http://sogweb.sog.unc.edu/blogs/localgovt/?p=1704&quot; target="”_blank”">NC Local
Government Blog post</a> yesterday made me aware that there have
recently been some very public conflict of interest issues involving
North Carolina's alcoholic beverage control (ABC) system, the state
liquor sales program, which allows

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court published <a href="http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S157341.PDF&quot; target="”_blank”">its
decision</a> relating to the conflict of interest charges against five
members of San Diego's pension board, which I discussed a couple months

I continue to be thankful for Sarah Palin's incredible ability to get
pedestrian government ethics issues into the public eye. This time it's
the use of private e-mails for public business, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/us/politics/24palin.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's New York <i>Times</i></a>.<br>
<br>

Many local government ethics codes have a provision that, when officials publicly give personal opinions rather than the government's position, requires them to clearly state
that they are not representing the local government.
Here's the one from <a href="http://www.santa-clarita.com/cityhall/agendas/council/print_attachment…; target="”_blank”">the

Which is the more troubling misuse of office? A local government
official having a citizen arrested for criticizing him, or a local
government official using tax dollars to pay off a citizen so that it
doesn't come out that the politician has influence over whom the police
arrest?<br>
<br>

The <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/citizens-opinion.p…; target="”_blank”">Citizens
United
decision</a> from the Supreme Court this week says that, for the
purpose of First Amendment free speech rights in a political context,
corporations are persons. Until now, they were considered fictional
persons, since they lack such things as arms, brains, and the right to
vote.<br>
<br>

<p>CITY ETHICS is a non-profit organization formed in 2000. Its purpose is to provide a centralized location for information and resources for all forms of local government ethics programs. City Ethics was started by attorney and former federal prosecutor Carla Miller and her husband, Don McClintock, who has a long career in the technology sector.<br />
The idea for City Ethics was "hatched" at the 2000 national conference of COGEL, the <b>Council on Governmental Ethics Laws</b>.