Yesterday, the Supreme Court delivered a blow to municipal government employee rights in its decision in <a href="http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/05pdf/04-473.pdf">Garcetti et al v. Ceballos.</a>

Terry L. Price's new book, <i>Understanding Ethical Failures in Leadership</i> (Cambridge University Press, 2006), provoked in me a great deal of thinking about what is behind the ethical failures of elected and appointed municipal officials. I will be talking in terms of officials, but Price speaks only in terms of leaders in general, with an emphasis on governmental leaders.

<H2>Creating ethics code takes time, expert says</H2>
<P>Carla Miller, an ethics officer for Jacksonville, Fla., and a former federal prosecutor, tells city officials, "You are in the upper echelon because you are at least struggling with it."</P>
<P>01:00 AM EDT on Friday, May 19, 2006</p>
<P><B>BY CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY<BR>Journal
Staff Writer</B></P>

<a href="http://miamidade.gov/wps/portal&quot; target="_blank">
<img src="http://ndc.nu/ce/img/miami-beach.jpg&quot; alt="Miami - South Beach" border="0" height="119" width="586"></a>

I am interested in getting some feedback on this point:
In a recent incident, there was perhaps no legal issue, but there was an undeniable perception that something unethical had occurred. What are your views on the thin red line between these points (i.e. "legal" and "perceived as unethical")

Should we try to step up to the plate and keep to the high moral ground where we even avoid the perception of unethical behaviour ?

How can we do this without moving far from what the average elected official can think with ?

I saw on the web that Miami-Dade has a "cone of silence" rule (love the name), which prohibits contact with government personnel including elected officials while contract solicitation responses are under evaluation.

I would like to hear from or about any other cities that have communication restrictions rules regarding the contract selection process, and any challenges against such rules. Thanks.

Helen Valkavich
City of San Antonio

Has any one had any experience where the government unit has oursourced what would normally be considered a government activity and then imposed the government's ethics policy on the contractor?

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/26/AR20060… src="http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/ssi/globalnav/wpdotcom_190x30.gi…; alt="washingtonpost.com" border="0" height="30" vspace="2" width="190"></a>

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<h1>COGEL Task Force -- Local and Municipal Ethics Initiatives</h1>
<h3>Members</h3>
<p>
<strong>CHAIR</strong>: Carla Miller, Ethics Officer, City of Jacksonville, Florida
<strong>VICE-CHAIR</strong>: John Steiner, Austin, TX Ethics Commission
<strong>Mark Davies</strong>, New York City Conflict of Interest Board
<strong>Helen Valkavich</strong>, City of San Antonio, TX
<strong>Robert Meyers</strong>, Miami/Dade Ethics Commission