There's a lot of talk among government ethics practitioners about how
important it is for ethics commissions to have teeth, that is, the
ability to at least reprimand and fine government officials for ethics
violations. Requiring council approval of ethics recommendations brings elected officials into the ethics process and politicizes it. And politicizing an ethics program undermines
its goal of gaining the public's trust in elected officials to govern
for the public, not for themselves and their families, friends, and

The conclusion of <a href="http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090225/COLUMNIST/902250326&quot; target="”_blank”">an
op-ed column</a> in today's Sarasota <span>Herald-Tribune</span>
about the mess in Venice that <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/652&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote about yesterday</a>

A favorite ploy in local government ethics is for a council to vote for
an ethics code that includes an ethics commission, and then either not
actually appoint members to the commission or, when they resign, not
fill their seats, so that there is, effectively, no enforcement
mechanism.<br>
<br>
But a legislative body cannot do this when it self-enforces. It has to be more creative. The

<i>Update below</i><br>
Recently, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/634&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote</a> a
bit about the odd Venice, FL ethics program, which
puts the city manager completely in charge. Now Venice is making news
with respect to open government issues, and this has led to a very
interesting conflict of interest issue.<br>
<br>

I've always felt torn with respect to whether citizens should be
allowed to ask for advisory opinions that have to do with local
government officials, as can be seen in the<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/mc/full#TOC57&quot; target="”_blank”"> advisory opinion
provision and comments</a> in the City Ethics Model Code Project.<br>
<br>

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/nyregion/22tickets.html&quot; target="”_blank”">An
article</a> deep in the first section of this Sunday's New York <span>Times</span> presents an interesting
ethical dilemma. In New York State, it used to be common for state
troopers and local police officers to negotiate, effectively plea
bargain, at the courthouse with people they'd given tickets to. And

<h1>COVER STORY</h1>
<p>Recently Susan Eastman from the Folio Weekly wrote the lead article for that week on Carla's activities in the City of Jacksonville role as Ethics Officer.</p> img.MyImage { border: 1px solid darkblue; margin: 0pt 0pt 1em 1em; padding: 0.25em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); }

What could provide a better education for local government ethics
practitioners than reading through a greatly expanded <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/conflicts/downloads/pdf2/enf%20docs/Enforcement…; target="”_blank”">261-page list of all the cases the New York City
Conflicts of Interest Board has decided or settled from 1992 through last week</a>? The
ethics provisions may not be the same as everywhere, but the problems

Agreeing on the local government budget is the most important thing
that the government does every year, because it affects every
department and agency. But with the exception of the big issues of the
year, it's a pretty arcane process often accomplished behind closed
doors. Thus, it provides excellent opportunities for unethical conduct,
very little of it dealt with in ethics codes.<br>
<br>

A city full of casinos has no need for an ethics board, right? Well,
according to <a href="http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/180/story/404724.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an