<b>Update below</b><br>
An ethics emergency was declared in Corpus Christi on Tuesday,
according to <a href="http://www.kiiitv.com/news/local/44895897.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article</a> on the KIII TV website. During the final meeting of the
council before the council membership changes post-election, the

<b>See Update Below</b><br>
The accusations made by New York's Inspector General that the executive
director of New York's Commission on Public Integrity leaked
information about an investigation to a close associate of the target of the investigation (the governor) are very upsetting. But there are
two important lessons to be learned here.<br>
<br>
One, ethics commissions should be as independent as possible, so that
when such things occur, it is clear that they are personal rather than

One great thing about the Internet is that it provides a clear picture
of how people respond to officials who do not deal responsibly with
their conflicts of interest, and how such irresponsible actions can
undermine people's trust in government.<br>
<br>

The word from Jackson County (MO) last week was that the county
legislature was "close to
revising the county’s ethics code to include them under its rules,"
according to <a href="http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/18345&quot; target="”_blank”">an

The biggest thing missing from ethics codes is lying. Everyone agrees
that a government official or employee who lies lacks integrity, but
ethics codes almost never prohibit this.<br>
<br>
It isn't that lying is okay, it's just very hard to enforce. Defending
a lie leads to more lies and other forms of dishonesty. It can get really
ugly.<br>
<br>

Technicalities should play little role in discussions about local
government ethics. But because there are ethics laws, people
unashamedly talk about ethics technicalities. They see ethics laws as
like any other law, not as minimal requirements that deserve more
thinking about what's appropriate than about what's legal.<br>
<br>

Earlier this week, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/737&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote</a>
about an application of Louisiana ethics law that I felt was too
severe. Today I'm going to write about a Louisiana ethics provision, a fairly typical gift provision that applies to local government officials,
which is too weak, because it has a big loophole in it.<br>
<br>

If the governmental ethics community had a publicity program, the
headline of <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1181034.html&quot; target="”_blank”">a
front-page article</a> in Tuesday's Kansas City <span>Star </span>would be a call to arms:<br>
<br>
<h1><small>Legislators agree: Ethics laws
are puppies, not pit bulls</small></h1>
<br>

In Louisiana, local government officials cannot do any sort of business
with anyone who does business with their local government. This
position is supported by a settlement reached with an Alexandria
council member, according to <a href="http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20090505/NEWS01/905050319/-1/NEWSFRO…; target="”_blank”">an

In March, I started out <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/684&quot; target="”_blank”">a
blog entry</a> by saying that "I thought I might write a piece about
using ethics
complaints for the purpose of political harassment" with respect to
Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. But then I discovered that the particular
ethics complaint was legitimate, and talked about the complaint itself
and how it applied to local government situations.<br>