It's sad that <a href="http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/ad2/calendar/webcal/decisions/2013…; target="”_blank”">it

Richard W. Painter's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Government-America-Deserves-Difference/dp…; target="”_blank”"><i>Getting
the Government America Deserves: How Ethics Reform Can Make a
Difference</i></a> (Oxford U.P., 2009) may be about the federal
executive branch ethics program, but this excellent book also has a lot
to offer to local government ethics. This is the first of three blog

One of the most frequent mistakes in the drafting of a government
ethics code is prohibiting officials from <i>having</i> conflicts of
interest. There is nothing wrong with an official <i>having</i> a conflict
of interest. There is only something wrong with an official <i>creating</i>
a conflict or failing to deal responsibly with a pre-existing

On April 17, the District of Columbia ethics board filed
recommendations for ethics reform with the council (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/dc-ethics-boards-flawed-recommendatio…; target="”_blank”">my

Here's a what-not-to-do scenario of a sort that is too rarely
included in ethics training. And yet it's one that could save a lot
of officials, as well as ethics programs, a great deal of trouble,
and help maintain public trust in local government.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/03/3604034/miamis-carollo-challenges…; target="”_blank”">an

I did a huge amount of reading this summer for a paper I wrote for the journal <i>Public Integrity</i> (and otherwise). The first piece of reading I'm going to talk about is one of the otherwise.<br>
<br>
Washington University in St. Louis law professor Kathleen Clark's
law review article, "<a href="http://lawreview.wustl.edu/inprint/85/5/Clark.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">Confidentiality

When people write about public campaign financing programs, they
tend to focus on participation percentages and the size of the
campaign contributions. But what is most interesting about <a href="http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/mayors_race…; target="”_blank”">the
analysis done by the New Haven Independent</a> of campaign
contributions given to mayoral candidates participating and not

Ethics provisions dealing with contracts often ignore
subcontractors. This leaves open a big loophole, through which an
official can get a big piece of a contract by hiding behind a
contractor. This is part of a larger problem: ignoring indirect benefits.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.stlbeacon.org/?_escaped_fragment_=/content/32605/subcontract…; target="”_blank”">an

On August 29, the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability
issued an advisory opinion on the important and far too overlooked
topic of constituent services (attached; see below). The issuing of
advisory opinions that cover more than a very specific set of facts,
what I call "general advisory opinions," is itself very valuable (see

Should the Josephson Institute's <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=7_fX6iKfZeMC&printsec=frontcover#v=one…; target="”_blank”">Five
Principles of Public Ethics</a> be enforceable by a local
government? And if not, why not?<br>
<br>