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>
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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>
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<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>.

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This page will contain an overview of the resources available on the City Ethics site.
This is a work in progress, but check out the sub-menus under the "Resources" Menu button.

According to <a href="http://www.dallascityhall.com/committee_briefings/briefings0110/ECO_Mun…; target="”_blank”">a
January 15 memorandum</a>, a week from today the Dallas city council

When I started getting involved with my town's government several years ago, I
quickly found that limited access to budget and other
financial information was a serious problem. The town government would not even put the
annual budget online, despite the fact that my town has town meetings
to discuss the budget and a budget referendum thereafter. It was clear
that the board of selectmen and the department heads did not want the
public to be able to prepare for these meetings and ask difficult
questions.<br>
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Assuming you can learn a lot from the mistakes made in local government
ethics matters in cities and towns other than your own, there is a
great deal to learn from a simple ethics matter that, through a number
of mistakes, oversights and, apparently, partisanship has been turned
into a big issue in the city of <a href="http://www.torringtonct.org&quot; target="”_blank”">Torrington</a>
(CT; pop. 36,000). There's also a lesson to be learned about the