According to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/09/30/ethical-l…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Washington <i>Post</i> this week</a>, the federal Office
of Government Ethics has reminded agencies to tell their furloughed
employees that "they remain employees of the Federal Government

There is a fact of life that is very hard for many local elected
officials to admit:  most of the campaign contributions given
to incumbents and serious challengers come from two sources: 
those seeking special benefits from the government and those who
work for the government (and their unions). If both of these groups
were not permitted to make campaign contributions, local elections
would be contested with very little money, unless the government
instituted a public campaign financing program.<br>
<br>

Is it too much to ask that an ethics commission member lead the way,
set an example, with respect to the single most important aspect of
a government ethics program:  ethics advice?<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.journalnow.com/news/state_region/article_7a2ae790-27e0-11e3-…; target="”_blank”">an

Here's an interesting local government ethics scenario from Ottawa
that deals with the often neglected oversight relationship. According to
<a href="http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/conflict+marriage+between+transportat…; target="”_blank”">an

There is usually another side of
the coin, and that other side is often ignored in drafting a government ethics code. The
other side of the nepotism coin came up recently in an ethics
proceeding in Stamford, CT.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Ethics-probe-targets-finan…; target="”_blank”">an

"It was like dandelions. You just accept them. They were there,
something you've seen all your life."<br>
<br>
Dandelions are a perfect metaphor for institutional corruption. In
this case, the dandelions were extra payments (beyond those due to
retirees) made by Detroit's two pension funds, to active employees
(54%), retirees (14%), and the city itself (32%), the latter to

Yesterday, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/09/25/nyregion/25rapfogel-felon…; target="”_blank”">a
felony complaint</a> was issued against William Rapfogel, the CEO
of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a large nonprofit
social service agency that received millions of dollars in grants
and contracts from New York City, New York state, and the federal

There is a great deal of misunderstanding concerning the difference
between a conflict of interest and a gift. It appears that most
people consider them two completely different things. In fact, they
represent two kinds of conflicts, pre-existing conflicts and
conflicts that are created by an event. The confusion between the two
characterizes a situation that led to an ethics complaint in Los
Angeles.<br>
<br>

Sendhil Mullainathan's new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Scarcity-Having-Little-Means-ebook/dp/B00BMKOO6S&…; target="”_blank”"><i>Scarcity:
Why Having Too Little Means So Much</i></a> (Times Books) has been
getting a lot of attention lately. Although I haven't read it yet, I

I wrote about it in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/ec-selection-process-and-recusal&quot; target="”_blank”">a
June 2011 blog post</a>, and then again in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/when-ec-members-appointing-authority-…; target="”_blank”">a