What is corruption? I try not to use this word with respect to government ethics, because it is commonly thought of as having to do with criminal misconduct such as bribery, kickbacks, fraud, and embezzlement. There is, however, the term "institutional corruption," which deals with legal misconduct that undermines public trust. And right there in the middle is government ethics, which involves illegal but not criminal misconduct. All very confusing.

Yesterday, a report entitled "...

Proximity rules are common to local and state government ethics codes nationwide (see my blog post on them from five years ago). They require officials to withdraw from any matter dealing with property within a certain distance of property they own or rent, no matter how many others have property within the same proximity.

According to...

In November 2010, Broward County, FL voters approved an ethics code for officials of the cities in the county (the code also applies to the county commissioners). The code finally became effective January 2, 2012.

Three cities in Broward County (home to Ft. Lauderdale) have put referendum questions on the January 31 ballot seeking to strike the applicability of certain of the code's provisions to their cities' officials. The principal one is the requirement to disclose one's...

What’s missing from new Jacksonville ethics office? Money

An ethics bill in the District of Columbia, sponsored by council member Muriel Bowser, went quickly through committee and was passed by the council, with only one dissenting vote, on December 20 (the final committee bill can be found here). What's amazing about it is that, despite the speed with which it moved, Bowser's staff made many improvements to the bill in response...

The creation of an ethics task force is a popular way for local government leaders to pursue ethics reform. It provides the appearance of community involvement and independence, and it means that reform ideas are not something to be imposed by a mayor on council members and other officials, which can cause a great deal of resentment.

Atlanta's Mayor Franklin chose this route in 2002, as did Philadelphia's Mayor Nutter in 2008. One difference is that Franklin appointed her own task...