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A central element of government ethics is that preferential treatment is bad. Preferential treatment is bad when it involves favoring officials' businesses or family members over other businesses and individuals. Preferential treatment is even bad when it involves officials' favorite charities. And preferential treatment is especially bad when it involves officials' religions.

What makes me say that this is especially bad? Because it's in the...

California's Proposition 11 raises an interesting conflict of interest issue for local governments whose council members represent districts. Proposition 11 is "a plan to set up a 14-member citizens commission to draw district boundaries for state Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization seats. State lawmakers currently have that power."

While we're in Nevada, there's another interesting case before the state's ethics commission that has ramifications for local government ethics. According to an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a probable cause hearing was to be conducted by one Democratic and one Republican commission member. When it turned out that the case had been brought by the executive director of the state Democratic party committee (against...

It's only been a few months since the Louisiana state court decision that applied the constitutional Speech and Debate Clause to remove state legislators from the state ethics commission's jurisdiction, and already a similar case has been filed in Nevada. In my blog entry on the Louisiana...

According to an article in yesterday's Baltimore Sun, the Baltimore County Council narrowly failed in its attempt to change the county charter to allow council members to work for the state of Maryland. Five of seven council members voted for the charter amendment (the charter currently forbids this), including one who "inadvertently" worked for the state for five...

According to an article in today's Denton (TX) Record-Chronicle, the Denton (pop. 106,000) council voted 4-2, with the mayor recusing himself, to give the city's tax collection contract to the mayor's law firm (he is one of two partners in the four-lawyer firm).

The firm had the contract before its partner was elected mayor, but the contract ran...