Luis Toro, the director of Colorado Ethics Watch, raised an
important local government ethics issue in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/luis-toro/colorado-open-records-act_b_155…; target="”_blank”">a
recent Huffington Post post</a>. It is a problem that is not
peculiar to Colorado. It is also a problem that could benefit from a government ethics approach.<br>
<br>

<b>Update</b>: July 17, 2012 (see end of this post)<br>
<br>
Here's an interesting conflict situation from Concord, NH. According
to <a href="http://concord-nh.patch.com/articles/another-ethics-complaint-filed&quot; target="”_blank”">a
recent article in the Concord <i>Patch</i></a>, a state representative
filed ethics complaints against Concord's mayor and one of the

A poor and disconcerting judicial decision on local legislative immunity came
down on May 24 from the U.S. District Court for the District of
Kansas, <a href="http://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/dct-order-dismissing-indi…; target="”_blank”"><i>Kickapoo
Tribe</i> v. <i>Black</i></a>.<br>
<br>

<br>This is the first of a series of posts that will pull out valuable
pieces from my new book <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/ethics%20book&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Local Government
Ethics Programs<i></a>.<br>
<br>
One reason that government ethics is described in terms of
obligations is that government officials have a fiduciary duty or
obligation
toward the community for which they work (and which, in some cases,

There are usually many ways to deal responsibly with a conflict situation. But
there are also many irresponsible ways to deal with a conflict situation. One
of the irresponsible ways is to be considered today in Portland, OR, according
to <a href="http://www.katu.com/politics/Portland-Police-Bureau-Officer-John-Myers-…; target="”_blank”">an

<br>
Washington <i>Post</i> columnist Robert McCartney raised an issue in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/mayor-vincent-gray-explain-or-resig…; target="”_blank”">a
column this weekend</a> that I feel should be taken seriously. The
background story is that two of the current D.C. mayor's campaign
aides confessed to having paid a mayoral candidate, and offered him

<a href="http://www.nola.com/prisons/&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Louisiana Incarcerated</i> is an
investigative series</a> that ran recently in the New Orleans
<i>Times-Picayune</i>. It is a story rooted in an extremely poor ethics environment
that, despite vaunted ethics reforms (that many, including me, have
criticized), does not seem to have changed.<br>
<br>
The series has introduced into popular culture the term "honey

Check out <a href="http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/gov-scandals-spur-action-on-pension…; target="”_blank”">a
valuable essay on pension forfeiture</a> by Dylan Scott, which was
posted on the Governing website in February. The essay looks at the
various arguments for and against pension forfeiture, looks at how
these laws come about (after scandals), and provides information

I was on a panel this week as part of the annual Citywide Seminar on
Ethics in New York City Government, co-sponsored by the New York
City Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) and the Center for New York
City Law at the New York Law School. The panel was called
"Challenges & Solutions in Government Ethics in Other
Municipalities."<br>
<br>
I want to share two ideas that were raised by other members of the
panel, who included Mark Davies, the executive director of the COIB;

Here's an interesting conflict situation from San Mateo County, CA.
According to <a href="http://www.almanacnews.com/news/show_story.php?id=11284&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's <i>Almanac</i></a>, prosecutors are investigating
the selection by two school boards of a project architect
for construction projects at the same time that the project