I find it fascinating that, although kickbacks (also known as "thanks giving") are one of the central
elements of unethical conduct in local governments, I have only
mentioned them three times
in my blog posts.<br>
<br>
Kickbacks are a dirty secret for one principal reason:  they are
difficult to prove. Along with bribes, they require hard-to-obtain
proof
to tie money to conduct. Coincidentally, these are the two forms of

<b>Update:</b> December 1, 2010 (see below)<br>
<br>
Last week, the Texas Attorney General issued <a href="https://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/opinions/50abbott/op/2010/pdf/ga08…; target="”_blank”">a
legal opinion</a> on the role of the county attorney in representing
and advising the El Paso County ethics commission, which was
established in 2009.<br>
<br>

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/waivers-and-ironies&quot; target="”_blank”">a
recent blog post</a>, I wrote about how the mayor's selection for New
York City schools chancellor needed to get a waiver from the state
department of education because she lacked an educational background,
and that she resigned corporate board positions to make it clear she
was serious about taking the job, even though there were, in some

The spread of corruption from local to state to national is often
ignored. And when corruption is discovered,
there is much litigation. In fact, it's often hard to see corruption
clearly here in the U.S. That's
why the occasional look at corruption abroad is useful, like looking in
an only
slightly distorted mirror.<br>

Teachers and teachers' family members seem to be just the sort of
people to run for school boards. They have either the expertise and/or
the interest in education. But with them come conflicts of interest,
and these can cast doubt on what they're doing there in the first place.<br>
<br>
Teachers in the particular school district generally can't run for
school board seats, but many teachers don't live in the districts where
they teach. This prohibition often applies to their spouses as well, but not to

<br><br>
I don't know how I failed to hear about this novel. Maybe I'm the last
one on the block to do so, but it's been four years since <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=mnIjPwAACAAJ&dq=parker+jefferson+falle…; target="”_blank”">T.
Jefferson Parker's <i>The Fallen</i></a> was published. This detective novel
involves the murder of an investigator for San Diego's "Ethics

Indefinite conflicts can cause a lot of problems for officials. They see them as not yet ripe, not something they should have to deal with yet. But others see them as looming in the future, and want to know how the official plans to deal with them. One such indefinite conflict is the subject of controversy in Tampa,
where a council candidate is the executive director of a nonprofit
organization that has a large contract with the city to build
affordable apartments. This sort of indefinite conflict comes up a lot.<br>
<br>

Another interesting ethics matter is raised in <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/san-jose-neighborhoods/ci_16650954?nclick_ch…; target="”_blank”">the
article on the school board member</a> in Santa Clara County (CA),

There are three basic approaches to enforcing ethics laws: 
through ethics commissions, through the criminal process, and through
the ballot box. I strongly oppose using the criminal process for ethics
violations (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/497&quot; target="”_blank”">an
earlier blog post</a>), and feel that the ballot box is far too crude a
way to enforce ethics laws, especially considering that voters do not

<b>I have to admit that [the proposed ethics code and disclosure form] made
me nervous because I kept seeing instances where I personally could be
considered, shall I say, at risk. Because the things I am involved in
are funded by the city. Making me nervous was a good thing. This is
very clear.</b><br><br>