<b>Update</b>: November 1, 2011 (see below)<br>
<br>
Hundreds of Bronx police officers are being investigated for ticket
fixing, one of the most common forms of preferential treatment in local
governments across the country. What's especially notable about

This is the second half of my look at Mary C. Gentile's 2010 book, <i>Giving Voice to Values.</i><br>
<br>
<b>Naming and Framing</b><br>
Framing is central to acting on one's values. So often ethics
matters have already, effectively, been framed (and justified) by an
organization.
There are accepted truisms (this is the way it's always been done) and
stories that everyone knows (the last time someone disagreed openly

The failure to deal responsibly with conflicts of interest has many
causes, but the principal cause is the silence of those who are not
directly responsible. I've written several times about some of the

Last August, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/gifts-professional-services&quot; target="”_blank”">a
blog post</a> about the mayor of Tulsa accepting free legal services
from an attorney who represented Tulsa in certain matters, that is,
from a city contractor. The matter involved the council possibly filing
charges against the mayor for allegedly lying about a federal police
grant.<br>
<br>

<b>Waiving the Privilege and The Extent of Withdrawal</b><br>
According to <a href="http://business-journal.com/airport-board-cooperates-in-land-deal-probe…; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's <i>Business Journal Daily</i></a>, the Ohio Ethics
Commission, which has jurisdiction over local government ethics, is
investigating the Western Reserve Port Authority's lease of property at

"The appropriate authority" is a vague phrase to base a major ethics
reform proposal on, but that is just what the District of Columbia's <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/55673311/Comprehensive-Ethics-Reform-Act&quot; target="”_blank”">draft
Comprehensive Ethics Reform Act of 2011</a> does.<br>
<br>
Introduced Tuesday by the council chair, this act is neither

On December 6, according to <a href="http://www.chicagotalks.org/2010/12/06/mayoral-candidate-rahm-emanuel-c…; target="”_blank”">an
article on the Chicago Talks website</a>, Chicago mayoral candidate
Rahm Emanuel promised that he would make many ethics reforms to “change
the culture” of corruption and cronyism at City Hall.<br>
<br>

Government ethics is dangerous to dating and weddings. That's the
message of <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/palm-beach-county-ethics-rules-would-…; target="”_blank”">an
article in Sunday's Palm Beach <i>Post</i></a>.<br>
<br>

In March, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/miscellany-15">a blog post
about a nepotism situation</a> in Valparaiso, IN. The city's ethics
commission found that the hiring of the fire chief's son would be in
violation of the ethics code, because the chief would be directly
involved in personnel matters involving his son.<br>
<br>

As a postscript to <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/jersey-sting&quot; target="”_blank”">the Jersey Sting</a>,
on Wednesday, according to <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/nj/Press/files/Kurlander,%20Mitchell%20et%2…; target="”_blank”">a
Justice Department press release</a>, the former CFO and CEO of a