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City Ethics Publications

Monday, April 20, 2015 - 12:02

NEW! The Regulation of Local Lobbying. The first book on the subject of local government lobbying is now available. By Robert Wechsler...

Spring Reading: "Self-Deception" by Herbert Fingarette

Tuesday, April 7th, 2015
Robert Wechsler

I just read a classic work of philosophical psychology, Self-Deception (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969), wherein Herbert Fingarette takes an interesting approach to a phenomenon common to politics, but which seems...

Spring Reading: Corruption in America IV

Tuesday, March 31st, 2015
Robert Wechsler

This is the fourth of four blog posts on Zephyr Teachout's excellent new book, Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United (Harvard Univ. Press).

Extortion and Pay to Play
Teachout talks about the difference in the origins of bribery and extortion statutes, the first coming out of...

Spring Reading: Corruption in America III

Tuesday, March 31st, 2015
Robert Wechsler

This is the third of four blog posts on Zephyr Teachout's excellent new book, Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United (Harvard Univ. Press).

Other Anti-Corruption Laws
Teachout is good at presenting laws as anti-corruption laws which are not usually considered this way. For...

The Consequences of Academic Noninvolvement in the Reform of Government Conflicts of Interest Programs

Tuesday, October 7th, 2014
Robert Wechsler
An essay of mine has appeared in the new issue of the journal Public Integrity, a special issue entitled "Changing of the Guard: The 75th American Society for Public Administration Anniversary Symposium: Visions and Voices of Ethics in the Profession" (Fall 2014, Vol. 16, No. 4). Since the journal is published commercially, I am not permitted to share my essay with you. So I will do the next best thing: ...

Spring Reading: The Day of Judgment

Wednesday, May 21st, 2014
Robert Wechsler
I just finished reading a masterpiece of a novel about Nuoro, a town in Sardinia:  Salvatore Satta's The Day of Judgment, translated from the Italian by Patrick Creagh. It's a very wise, witty, and sad novel. Here are a few pearls of wisdom that shed light on local government ethics.

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