The International City/County Management Association (the city, county,
and town manager professional organization) is holding <a href="http://icma.org/main/ca.asp?caid=585&hsid=1&quot; target="”_blank”">a 90-minute
audioconference</a> on local government ethics on January 29. I do not
know the details of the program, and I am not endorsing it, but it
sounds like a very inexpensive way for local government managers and

The Nevada legislative immunity opinion has come down. It's in two
parts, searchable, <a href="http://www.northhaveninfo.org/resources/Nevada+decision+1+1208.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">1</a>
and <a href="http://www.northhaveninfo.org/resources/Nevada+decision+2+1208.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">2</a>.

What's the best reason for mayoral candidates not to disclose their
finances, monies received directly or indirectly from the city, etc.?
Just ask some of the candidates running to replace disgraced Detroit
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. According to <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20081223/NEWS01/812230348&quot; target="”_blank”">an

It's pop quiz time. Read the following ethics code provision and
hypothetical, and answer the question that follows them.<br>
<br>
<div>No public servant shall solicit or
accept, directly or indirectly, any thing of economic value as a gift
or gratuity from any person or from any officer, director, agent, or
employee of such person, if such public servant knows or reasonably
should know that such person has or is seeking to obtain contractual or

While on the topic of ex parte communications, it's a good time to
mention a very special ex parte communications provision, Miami-Dade
County's renowned "code of silence" provision. It's also a good time
because, according to <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/806517.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an article in the Miami <span>Herald</a></span>, the provision was

One way to deal with possible conflicts is to nip them in the bud by
not allowing any personal communications between officials and
interested parties ("ex parte communications"). All communications must
be official, either documentary or at formal meetings or negotiations.<br>

What stronger personal interest is there than family relationships? And
yet so many people don't get the problems nepotism in government poses,
at least until it takes a chunk out of their wallets.<br>

The <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/ch…; target="”_blank”">Chicago
Tribune editorial</a> on Illinois' recently passed ethics bill is a
must read. It outlines the process by which the ethics bill almost
didn't become law, despite the fact that no legislator, at any time,
voted against it, and those who delayed it insisted they were doing so

I've written a few times about the ways local government officials

<b>Update below</b>:<br>
Back in August, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/503&quot; target="”_blank”">a
long blog entry</a> praising the way San Diego's Centre City
Development Corp.'s  (CCDC) board handled a conflict matter. I
focused on the board's refusal to pull the usual San Diego (and
elsewhere) stunt of denying that anything serious had occurred.