<b>Referendum Requires Ethics Training and Increases Penalties</b><br>
I learned at the COGEL conference last week that a referendum passed in
New York City last month requires all city officials and
employees to receive conflict of interest training. The Conflicts of
Interest Board (COIB) does provide training, but officials and
employees are not required to take it. This change is extremely
valuable.<br>
<br>

At last week's COGEL conference, I learned about a judicial case
involving the Anne Arundel County (MD) Ethics Commission, which has
been going on for six years. <a href="http://mdcourts.gov/opinions/cosa/2009/2714s07.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">A decision
of the Court of Special Appeals last November</a> is worth a look.

Chinese walls, that is, ways to separate an official from a matter as to which he has a conflict, are a perfect way to appear to be responsibly handling a
series of possible conflicts, but are these walls great or are they
window dressing? And even if the walls truly work, are they enough to
deal responsibly with a series of possible conflicts?<br>
<br>

<br>
The COGEL conference last week had an excellent panel on the revolving
door between government and business. One thing I learned is that the
first post-employment laws were passed in the 1850s and 1860s, and they
involved lawyers, a group that often argues that ethics laws should not
apply to them (in fact, in Pennsylvania, someone said, revolving door
laws cannot be applied to practicing attorneys). The idea of a
cooling-off period after government service originated in 1955, well

If a council member's law firm wants to bid on being the local
government's
attorney, a contract that is approved by the council, what is the
responsible way to handle the matter?<br>
<br>

I recently read a book by Stanley Cavell called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cities-Words-Pedagogical-Letters-Register/dp/0674…; target="”_blank”">Cities of Words: Pedagogical
Letters on a Register of the Moral Life</a> (2004). Despite its title, it
is not
about cities; in fact, much of the book uses movies to discuss this

Here are three cases from New York City that
involve relations between superiors and subordinates, one of the most
important aspects of local government ethics. What is especially interesting is that two of these cases involve co-opting, in one case of subordinates, in the other of vendors. These cases were included
in COGEL's ethics update last week.<br>
<br>

<b>Update:</b> December 14, 2010 (see below):<br>
<br>
One thing I learned at the COGEL conference last week is that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darleen_Druyun&quot; target="”_blank”">Darleen
Druyun</a>, the infamous Air Force procurement officer who favored Boeing
before taking a job with it, had been given ethics advice on six
occasions and ignored it.<br>
<br>

At the annual Council on Governmental Ethics conference in Washington D.C.
<h2>From left:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Kurt Nemes, World Bank Ethics Office</li>
<li>Carla Miller, City Ethics</li>
<li>Matt Cross, Office of Governmental Ethics</li>
</ul>
Each presented as a part of an ethics training seminar in Washington DC, Dec. 2010
<br><br><br>

Quick. What's the biggest government ethics problem?<br>
<br>