The New York City Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) recently issued an
advisory opinion (attached, see below) on the subject of conflicts
involving city council discretionary funds, a topic<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/429&quot; target="”_blank”"> I wrote about</a> last
year. This is a model advisory opinion, especially in the way it
provides a number of scenarios to which it applies the city's relevant

A report worth reading was recently published by the OECD: <a href="http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2009doc.nsf/ENGDATCORPLOOK/NT00002A56/$FI…; target="”_blank”">Self-Regulation
and Regulation of the Lobbying Profession</a>. Its focus on European
countries provides a valuable complement to American lobbying
regulation. Below is a condensed version of the report's executive
summary:<br>
<br>

Over the last two days, a new-fangled local government ethics
controversy has taken Ohio by storm:  allowing counties to sell advertising on their websites. A law to that effect has been inserted in the
pending state budget bill, according to <a href="http://www.ohio.com/news/ohiocentric/48617447.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
Associated Press article</a>.<br>
<br>

According to <a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=2009…; target="”_blank”">an
Associated Press article yesterday</a>, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission
recommended a rule change that would get rid of the gag rule on people
who file ethics complaints. The cause of the rule change is two suits
filed against the EC, challenging the gag rule. The suits were filed on

Rarely does someone make a comment to one of my
blog posts that brings such a fresh look at a standard conflict of
interest issue as <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/774&quot; target="”_blank”">the one
made recently by Catherine Mullhaupt</a>, Esq.,
Director of Member Information Services at the Michigan Townships
Association.<br>
<br>
It is important to recognize that the interest in having government

The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission has published its report on
the infamous Seattle snow scandal of last winter. There were numerous
accusations that the mayor and other top officials had asked for and
been given preferential treatment for their neighborhood when an unusual snowstorm hit Seattle.<br>
<br>
Preferential treatment is one of the thorniest of all ethics issues, as

How does a council deal with conflicts in a company town? My first
response to this would be, are there still company towns? Well,
certainly not as many as there used to be, but probably most of the
ones that remain are college towns.<br>
<br>

I recently read a fascinating classic study by Albert O. Hirschman (Institute of Advanced Study)
called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shifting-Involvements-Interest-Historical-Economi…; target="”_blank”"><span>Shifting Involvements: Private Interest
and Public Action</span></a> (1982). This book focuses on the various

Community outreach is usually toward the bottom of a local government
ethics commission's priority list.<br>
<br>
Googling one thing or another, I came across <a href="http://www.oaklandnet.com/government/public_ethics/31ItemG.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">this
memo</a> from the executive director of the Oakland Public Ethics
Commission, which includes an invitation to members of the press,

Yesterday, the Seattle City Council passed <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/council/clark/attachments/2009_ethics_code_ord.p…; target="”_blank”">amendments</a>
to the city's <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/ethics/etpub/et_code.htm&quot; target="”_blank”">ethics
code</a>, based on recommendations from the city's ethics commission,