Ethics Commissions/Administration

A couple of months ago, the Ohio Ethics Commission did something very wise and valuable:  it drafted an advisory opinion on nepotism rules, gathering information from years of partial, specific advisory opinions, and providing examples. It even gives excellent definitions of each of the relevant terms, including such generally applicable terms as "public contract"  and "anything of value."

San Marcos (TX) Council candidate Toby Hooper, in his first public statement as a candidate, said some of the right things about ethics:

On the role of an ethics commission (he's a member of the city's ethics review commission):

Last Saturday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a long article, "Connections Count at Law Firm," on the Washington/Atlanta-based law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge. This firm was known to me primarily as the firm behind the Pay to Pay Law Blog, a good, although too...

Gifts from restricted sources, that is, from those doing business with the local government (and their lobbyists), are exceptionally damaging, in that they make the public believe their officials can be bought or that their officials are running a pay-to-play government. It's too bad that at least some members of the Los Angeles ethics commission don't recognize this.

Recusal is a two-part process. First, the official discloses his interest in a matter that has or will come before his board or agency. Then, the official does not participate in that matter.

In Tucson, this process was distorted by the involvement of a board attorney. According to an article in Wednesday's Arizona Daily Star, the chair and vice...

The Kansas City, MO ethics commission situation is a mess. Last month, I wrote about the problem that arose regarding EC members who made campaign contributions to candidates over whom they had jurisdiction, leading to two resignations. Soon after, the council prohibited EC members from making contributions, and two more members resigned, leaving only three members. But that's only the icing on the cake.