Ethics Codes

<b>An Oakland Ethics Reform Proposal</b><br>
According to <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_25755048/proposal-would-empower-oaklands-…; target="”_blank”">an
article this week in the <i>Mercury News,</i></a> an
Oakland, CA council member has proposed to more than triple the city ethics
commission's staff, expand its oversight powers to include campaign

<b>Prince George's County, MD</b><br>
Prince George's County had a big scandal involving the county
executive back in 2010. The new county executive vowed to make
serious ethics reform a priority, and did some valuable things in

Over the last few weeks, while I was putting the finishing touches
on the second edition of the book <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/ethics%20book&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Local Government
Ethics Programs</i></a>, there was a lot of action in the area of
ethics reform. In the next few blog
posts, I will summarize the action.<br>
<br>

It's a good idea for states to encourage the creation of local
government ethics programs by drafting model ethics codes. It's also
a good idea for states to require minimal local government ethics
provisions. What is not good is model codes and minimal requirements
that are not accompanied by explanations and do not provide

In recent years, Florida's elected officials have shown a great deal
of leadership in the field of unethical and criminal misconduct. The
state has a weak state ethics commission, which has jurisdiction
over local officials, and until recently only one good local
government ethics program, in Miami/Dade County (Jacksonville and
Palm Beach County joined this list with ethics reform last year).
The major voices in government ethics in Florida have, sadly, been
grand juries.<br>
<br>

I came across a decision in Patty Salkin's <a href="http://lawoftheland.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/7th-circuit-holds-develope…; target="”_blank”">Law
of the Land blog today</a> involving a federal statute that
allows federal prosecution of those who give gifts to local

I don't write about Jacksonville much, because my colleague at City
Ethics, Carla Miller, is the city's ethics officer. She has been
working hard to ensure that the city's ethics commission is given more
authority and independence, and that the city's ethics laws are
improved. This week, the council will be moving closer to approving, or
undermining, reforms.<br>
<br>
Instead of giving my opinion of what she is seeking, which is basically

<b>Unfunded Open Meetings Mandate in California</b><br>
Local governments' protests against unfunded state mandates might, in
this time of spending cuts, lead to the undermining of state ethics
laws that apply to local governments. The first sign of this is in
California, of course.<br>
<br>

Last month, I did <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/mack-truck-exceptions-new-gift-provis…; target="”_blank”">a
blog
post</a> on the huge exceptions to <a href="http://www.flashpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/SB14-int.pdf&q…; target="”_blank”">Alabama's
new

In February, Florida governor Charlie Crist asked for a grand jury to
report on government corruption in Florida. <a href="http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/JFAO-8CLT9A/$file/19thSWGJInt…; target="”_blank”">The
first
interim report</a> was filed yesterday. Its recommendations involve local government as well as state ethics laws.<br>
<br>