In the news

According to an article in <a href="http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20090110/NEWS/901109978&quot; target="”_blank”">yesterday's
Nevada </a><span><a href="http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20090110/NEWS/901109978&quot; target="”_blank”">Appeal</a>,</span>

Roland Burris's acceptance of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's offer
of Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat is based on a willful, self-serving misunderstanding about the difference between
ethics and law.<br>
<br>
Here is what Burris told MSNBC in <a href="http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/12/roland_burris_b…; target="”_blank”">a

The <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/ch…; target="”_blank”">Chicago
Tribune editorial</a> on Illinois' recently passed ethics bill is a
must read. It outlines the process by which the ethics bill almost
didn't become law, despite the fact that no legislator, at any time,
voted against it, and those who delayed it insisted they were doing so

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - The Oklahoma Ethics Commission has voted unanimously to name a former U.S. attorney as the agency's chairman. John Raley is an outspoken critic of the state Legislature's failure to adequately fund the commission, a watchdog department that keeps an eye on politicians' campaigns. Raley had threatened to sue lawmakers over funding, but says commissioners are discussing the issue with some legislators.

<i>Update: Later in the day, according to <a href="http://onthehillblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/pelosi-calls-on-paulson-to-st… report in On the Hill</a>, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the Treasury Secretary to strengthen the conflict of interest requirements discussed below.</i><br>
<br>
The bailout, pursuant to the Emergency Economic
Stabilization Act of 2008, is being contracted out to financial

The current economic crisis provides an important opportunity for government
ethics professionals. It takes our eyes out of the trees -- individual government
officials' conflicts of interest -- and lets us see the forest. <br>

According to a lawsuit filed yesterday in Alaska by five Republican
lawmakers to halt an investigation into Gov. Palin's dismissal of the
state's public safety commissioner, elected politicians cannot
investigate the actions of other elected politicians if they have a
political bias, such as giving a campaign contribution to their party's
presidential candidate.<br>

<h1>Ethics office budget stirs city turmoil</h1>
<h3>Confusion over an increase has raised eyebrows
and questions.</h3><br>
<b>By DAVID HUNT, The Times-Union</b><br>
<p>In Mayor John Peyton's proposed budget, it looked like the city ethics office
stood to receive a 70 percent boost.</p><br>
<img alt="" src="files/2008-08-09-TU-Article.jpg">
<br><b>Photo: BRUCE LIPSKY/The Times-Union</b>

The actual and perceived independence of an ethics commission is
one of the most important aspects of a government ethics program.<br>
<br>
The U.S. House of Representatives finally decided to be overseen by an
independent Office of Congressional Ethics. Hallelujah!<br>
<br>
And so who did the House appoint? The three Democrats are former Reps.
David Skaggs (D-Colo.), Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (D-Calif.) and Karen
English (D-Ariz.). The three Republicans are former Rep. Peter Goss

Talk about the appearance of impropriety is, as Congressman Charles B.
Rangel of New York is quoted in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/nyregion/18rangel.html&quot; target="”_blank”">a
recent New York <span>Times</span> article</a>
as saying, “annoying.” Why should there be anything more than a
decision of his peerless peers on the House Ethics Committee, guilty or