When <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/381&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote
about</a> the "industrial city" of Vernon, California a year ago, I
didn't pay attention to a story that would, if it were true
(allegations have been made but, as far as I know, not proven), make

A year ago, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/422&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote</a> about New York City Council's earmark funds and the ways they were
being abused. Atlanta's council members have a different sort of
fund, not intended to help their constituents, but intended to help

<b>See update below</b><br>
<br>
Ethics is popular in Illinois right now, so popular that two mayoral
candidates in the Village of Niles, a northwest suburb of Chicago (pop.
30,000), are putting it at the center of their campaigns. But it's not
ethics as most of us like to think of it.<br>

Are loans to businesses that do business with a city sufficient to
create a conflict of interest? This is the question that has been
batted around recently in Washington, D.C., according to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR20090…; target="”_blank”">an

The new year is a good time for ethics commissions and officers to look
ahead to 2009 and set goals and priorities. According to <a href="http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=51613&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in today's Jacksonville <span>Daily
Record</span></a>, this is exactly what the Jacksonville (FL) ethics
commission did at its first meeting of the new year. As did the city's

Special districts are an important and growing form of local
government, and yet they often fly beneath the radar. In fact, I've
only <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/449&quot; target="”_blank”">mentioned them once</a>
in my blog. And most citizens have no idea what they are or that they
exist in their area (I myself can't name one in my area). For this reason,
conflicts of interest involving special districts also remain, for the

Sacramento recently had an interesting situation, which set off
accusations of conflicts of interest. According to <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/734/story/1488169.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an article in the
Sacramento <span>Bee</span></a>, the
newly-elected weak mayor came into office with a volunteer transition
team, consisting primarily of people who have business with the city or

The Baltimore mayor's attorney has, only days after <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/606&quot; target="”_blank”">his client was
indicted</a>, given a course to drafters of local government ethics codes
on how not to define "doing business" with a local government.<br>

When the entire ethics commission of a major county resigns,
something is seriously wrong. This is what recently happened in Jackson
County, MO, home of Kansas City and Independence.<br>

According to an article in <a href="http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20090110/NEWS/901109978&quot; target="”_blank”">yesterday's
Nevada </a><span><a href="http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20090110/NEWS/901109978&quot; target="”_blank”">Appeal</a>,</span>