“Incompatible offices” is a form of
conflict that is usually left out of ethics codes. One reason is
that there is
a common law prohibition against officials holding incompatible
offices. But
whether or not the conflict is common law or in an ethics code, this
is an
important kind of conflict that should be included in ethics
training so that
it is understood. It should also be a topic for which officials may
seek ethics
advice.<br>
<br>
There are

Many people believe that conflicts of interest are in and of
themselves bad, and that government ethics laws should prevent those
with conflicts of interest from becoming public servants. Many
people believe that government ethics is about being good or bad.
When the two come together in one person and one speech, the result can be fireworks.<br>
<br>

A settlement in a Massachusetts ethics proceeding can be used as
an educational opportunity in several ways.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.mass.gov/ethics/press-releases-meetings-and-publications/pre…; target="”_blank”">a

<b>Police Officer Side Businesses and Revenue Distinctions</b><br>
There's <a href="http://www.newpittsburghcourieronline.com/index.php/featured-news/metro…; target="”_blank”">an
interesting article in yesterday's <i>New Pittsburgh Courier</i></a>
about Pittsburgh police officer side businesses and the sorts of

There's a lot of food for thought in the February 21 decision of the
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in the
case <a href="http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/13D0150P.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Lodge No. 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police v. City of Philadelphia</i></a>.<br>
<br>
The suit was brought in order to end the prohibition on police

A "placeholder" is someone who agrees to run on a ticket
with a mayoral candidate or be appointed by him, but has no interest or intention in
actually doing the work required by the position. Such a candidate
does not attend many meetings of the body to which she was elected
(often she is not even in town much of the year) and, when she does
attend, is usually not prepared. When her support is needed, she
will sometimes read a short speech prepared for her by someone else.<br>
<br>

In ethics, there are two basic approaches: (1) an ends-based
approach, also referred to as utilitarian or consequentialist; and
(2) a means-based approach, also referred to as rules-based or
deontological. Government officials, and most people when speaking
about government, generally use the former, while government ethics
uses the latter. This causes a lot of problems.<br>
<br>
Therefore, it is very heartening to see an academic taking a
critical look at ends-based approaches to solving a governmental

It's been over two years since <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/large-contracts-bid-rigging-and-pensi…; target="”_blank”">I
wrote</a> about the indictments of former Detroit mayor Kwame
Kilpatrick, his father, and a city contractor. This morning,

People (including government officials) usually talk about conflict
situations as if they involved the public (represented by do-good
ethics types) trying to get public servants (who are represented as
corrupt) to sacrifice either their family, friends, or business
opportunities or their duty to do their jobs as representatives or
officials.<br>
<br>
This is sad, because this leads people to ignore the other side to conflict situations:  the effect living and dealing

From the Florida Times Union 4 Feb 2013:
"<i>Floridians have an ironclad right to be in the room when government boards make decisions that affect their lives.
But speaking their minds about those decisions is a different story. A chain of court cases around the state have concluded the law that lets citizens watch open government doesn’t entitle them to talk to the boards making the decisions.
Jacksonville’s ethics director is trying to change that, at least close to home.</i>"