Today's NY Times has an interesting article on the "<i>honest-services fraud</i>" statute:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/us/07honest.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=joun%2… (URL may require subscription)

It's been a year since the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL),
the association of state and local government ethics professionals, met
in Cook County, IL. But the day before COGEL meets in Scottdale, AZ,
it's time to take another look at one of America's most unethical
counties, which includes Chicago.<br>
<br>
This time the focus is on the county's townships. The problem is summed
up professionally in the abstract to a paper published last year. It's

One way of describing government ethics is that it involves the use and
abuse of the power that goes with government officials' positions. Not
all such abuses are covered by ethics laws, of course. This blog post looks at an
instance of abuse that is not covered. It involves a state
legislature and, especially, one state representative, in a state where local ethics is handled at the state level.<br>
<br>

<br>
Is it a conflict for a council member to be an officer of a
neighborhood association? This issue arose recently in Tulsa, according
to <a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=16&articleid=2009…; target="”_blank”">an
article this week in the <i>Tulsa World</i></a>. <br>
<br>

According to <a href="http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20091120/NEWS01/311200073/1006/SPORT…; target="”_blank”">an
article in <i>Town Talk</i></a>, an allegation against the mayor of Alexandria
(LA) of ignoring a conflict of interest has led to some all too typical
denial, squabbling, and inappropriate city attorney activity.<br>
<br>

<br>
Ethics reform is difficult without a scandal. If your local government
doesn't have an ethics commission, it's hard to form one. If there's an
ethics commission without teeth, it's hard to even get dentures. And in
Denver, according to <a href="http://www.coloradoforethics.org/node/27787&quot; target="”_blank”">an article in the
Denver <i>Post</i></a>, it's hard to even get information about what happens

There are many right and wrong ways to select an ethics commission. The
rightest ways <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/770&quot; target="”_blank”">take the selection process out of the hands</a> of anyone who
could possibly come before the EC, because that places a conflict of
interest at the very center of a process intended to guide and enforce
the responsible handling of conflicts. The rightest ways also prevent

According to <a href="http://www.timesherald.com/articles/2009/11/26/news/doc4b0de71113075929…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the <i>Times-Herald</i></a>, a Montgomery County
(PA) judge ruled that the county commissioners do not have authority to
prohibit employees of the district attorney or sheriff's offices from
participating in political activities or running for office.<br>
<br>

<a href="http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_W_wethics22.44…; target="”_blank”">An
article in the Riverside (CA) <i>Press-Enterprise</i></a> this week raises two
interesting government ethics issues. One involves conflicts based on a
business-related desire to have good relations with the local
government. The other involves conflicts based on campaign

<br>
<b>Outside Ethics Commission Members</b><br>
According to <a href="http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20091122/NEWS01/911220302/1002/New-p…; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's Salisbury (MD) <i>Daily Times</i></a>, the mayor of
Snow Hill (pop. 2400) has decided to look outside his town for members of an ad hoc