Chicago politicians are endlessly creative. A few weeks ago <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/810&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote</a> about an
alderman on the zoning committee who pushed for zoning changes to help
developers who used his wife as their realtor. It turns out that his
boss, William J. P. Banks, head of the zoning committee, is going to
have a retirement party. The party's guests are being asked to send

Again, a very public federal conflict of interest matter provides
valuable material relevant to local government ethics. This
time it's former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.'s
relationship with the firm he formerly headed, Goldman Sachs, the
subject of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/business/09paulson.html&quot; target="”_blank”">a

<B>Update below</b> (August 10, 2009):<br>
When an official has a conflict of interest, the usual course is to
withdraw from any discussion or vote on the matter. But this is not
always the case. Sometimes a conflict of interest requires that a
responsible official speak up.<br>
<br>

It's rare to see the clear results of unethical behavior in local
government. Sadly, exceptionally clear results can be seen in a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/us/01alabama.html&quot; target="”_blank”">front-page
article</a> in today's New York <span>Times.</span><br>
<br>
Jefferson County, Alabama, the home of Birmingham, had a serious

A chapter in Jonah Lehrer's new book, <span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Decide-Jonah-Lehrer/dp/0618620117/&quot; target="”_blank”">How
We Decide</a>,</span> sheds some interesting light on ethical
decision-making. The book shares the latest discoveries neuroscientists
have made using hightech views of the brain at work, especially when it
is making various sorts of decisions.<br>
<br>

Thanks to <a href="http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2009/07/houston-city-council-ethics-forms-…; target="”_blank”">Texas
Watchdog</a>, "an independent, nonpartisan entity [that] serves as a
government watchdog and training center
where reporters, bloggers and activists of any stripe learn how to
uncover waste, fraud and corruption in state and local governments,"

In Jacksonville-- where City Ethics' founder, Carla Miller, is the
Ethics Officer -- the ethics commission is taking the lead in ethics
reform, according to <a href="http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=52806&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article</a> in the Jacksonville <span>Daily
Record. <br>
<br>

It may be midsummer, but it's still a busy season for local government
ethics. Here's how a few local governments are dealing with ethics
reform.<br>
<br>
Palm Beach County commissioners agreed to create an inspector general
and ethics commission, according to <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/0…; target="”_blank”">an

<b>Update below</b><br>
The only thing worse than stacking ethics commissions with politically
active, and apparently loyal, members is refusing to renew the term of
a member who has been a vocal advocate of government ethics, in other
words, a thorn in the side of officials who do not follow the local
government's ethics codes. Clever officials know that one or two
members of any board can have a strong effect on
what the board does.<br>
<br>

The great majority of local governments that think they have no state
or local law or rules regarding local officials' conflicts of interest
do actually have a conflict of interest rule.<br>
<br>
This rule is hidden in Robert's Rules, which is usually the set of
rules under which local government bodies operate. Here is what it says
in §45 (Voting Procedure), in the first subsection on Rights and
Obligations in Voting (I'm quoting from the Perseus Publishing tenth
edition, pp.394-395):<br>
<br>