Two months ago, a book was published called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jersey-Sting-Crooked-Money-Laundering-Informant/d…; target="”_blank”">The
Jersey Sting</a>, by two <i>Star-Ledger</i> reporters, Ted Sherman and Josh
Margolin. It provides the history of an enormous federal sting
operation which led to the arrest of dozens of government officials,

Last month, the Obama administration drafted <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/53440033/Executive-Order-Disclosure-of-Politi…; target="”_blank”">an
executive order</a> that would require those seeking federal government
contracts to disclose their political contributions, and those of their
directors, officers, affiliates, and subsidiaries, made in the two

According to <a href="http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_b7ce…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Billings <i>Gazette</i> last week</a>, the Montana Political
Practices Commissioner will have to step down from her position, because
her nomination by the governor was not approved by the state legislature. Her office,

Going by the reaction of the news media and the Pulitzer committee, the most serious government
ethics scandal of 2010 occurred in Bell, California, where the city's
top officials were paying themselves huge salaries, taking advantage of
an uneducated, uninvolved citizenry.<br>
<br>

It's been a year since I last wrote about placement agents, so it's
time for an update, based on <a href="http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0523/features-pensions-glen-sergeon-a…; target="”_blank”">an
article put up yesterday on the <i>Forbes Magazine</i> site</a>, designated
for the May 23 issue.<br>
<br>
Placement agents are intermediaries between pension boards and

Needless to say, <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/10-568…; target="”_blank”">last
week's
oral
argument before the U.S. Supreme Court</a> in the <i>Carrigan v.

<b>Update</b>: September 17, 2011 (see below)<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/An-ethical-dilemma-Who-…; target="”_blank”">An
article
in yesterday's Stamford <i>Advocate</i></a> keeps asking the question,
Who should pay? The article is referring to attorney's fees

There are two morals to the following story. One involves law, the
other ethics.<br>
<br>
Last August, <a href="http://www.npri.org/publications/nevada-schools-billiondollar-blind-spo…; target="”_blank”">the
Nevada Policy Research Institute ran a long commentary</a> on the fact
that Nevada's 17 school superintendents were not filing financial
disclosure statements with the state ethics commission, something

Kerry Cavanaugh, a Los Angeles <I>Daily News</i> columnist, got it wrong when
she started <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/columnists/ci_17787108&quot; target="”_blank”">a
recent
column,</a> "Here's another reminder that politicians are not
like you or me. If I get caught taking inappropriate gifts or violating
the company's ethics policy, I might be fired, suspended without pay or

I was just reading <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/18483257?story_id=18483257&quot; target="”_blank”">a
review in <i>The Economist</i></a> of Francis Fukayama's new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374227349&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>The Origins