<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/463&quot; target="”_blank”">Last June, I wrote</a>
about the state prosecutor's investigation of Baltimore Mayor Sheila
Dixon, which was being taken before a grand jury. I focused on a series
of ethical problems Mayor Dixon had in her pre-mayoral days and how
they built toward these more serious alleged offenses. A little more

“There’s no conflict,” the mayor said last night. “It wouldn’t be a
story if his name wasn’t Menino.” (from <a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1143360&quot; target="”_blank”">a
recent Boston <span>Herald</span> article</a>)<br>
<br>

The status of a local government attorney is important. An
external local government attorney, that is, one not employed full-time
by the government, is still seen as the top legal official in town,
someone whose word is effectively law, especially at government
meetings. Such an attorney is also seen as representing the public
interest whenever the government is involved.<br>
<br>
But part-time, external local government attorneys have mouths to feed,
and they are often approached by clients for their expertise and for

Here's an interesting case study from Council Bluffs, IA.
According to <a href="http://www.southwestiowanews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20234973&BRD=2703…; target="”_blank”">an

Self-promotion is the ultimate form of placing one's own interests over
the public interest, but we expect it from politicians. It's an ego
thing. It has no place in an ethics code.<br>
<br>
But the four-term-plus sheriff of Maricopa County,
AZ (which includes Phoenix and Scottsdale) has turned self-promotion into an extreme sport.<br>

The situation discussed in the <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/600&quot; target="”_blank”">previous blog entry</a> also
provides a good example of why it is important to have a contract
avoidance provision in a local government ethics code. Here is <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/mc/full#TOC58&quot; target="”_blank”">the one in the City
Ethics Model Code</a>:<br>

How do you deal with a department head who helps creates a conflict of
interest problem that does not apply to him personally? Few ethics
codes contain complicity provisions that deal with this problem. The City
Ethics Model Code <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/mc/full#TOC49&quot; target="”_blank”">complicity provision </a> begins: "No
one may, directly or indirectly, induce, encourage, or aid anyone to
violate any provision of this code...."<br>

Life would be easier for honest politicians if there could be no
intersection between government contracts and contributions to campaign
and candidate-associated political committees. The possibility of
Commerce Secretary nominee Bill Richardson's involvement in a New Mexico pay-to-play situation has led him to withdraw himself from the

For all you local government legislative immunity fans, here's a case
you'll enjoy (other local government ethics people should find it
interesting, as well). A Virginia state senator has sued members of a
city council for what they did in their legislative capacity, despite
the fact that she knows she herself cannot be sued for what she's done
in her legislative capacity. That's a nice start, isn't it?<br>

Roland Burris's acceptance of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's offer
of Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat is based on a willful, self-serving misunderstanding about the difference between
ethics and law.<br>
<br>
Here is what Burris told MSNBC in <a href="http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/12/roland_burris_b…; target="”_blank”">a