In the news

Sometimes city councils feel compelled to write or improve their city's ethics law due to a scandal. Sometimes city councils are compelled by a ballot measure. And in both instances, the council isn't happy with the result.

In San Diego, the ethics code came via ballot measure in 2002, and yes, the city council doesn't seem all that happy with the result. So it is doing what it can to undermine the ballot measure and to keep the ethics commission's work out of the public eye.

See Update below
Is there a conflict when a county prosecutor who is a presidential candidate's campaign chairman in the area subpoenas the voting records, including personal information, of certain voters who registered and voted at the same time during a short window when this is allowed in Ohio? Three more facts worth knowing, according to an article in today's...

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.

See below for two updates

I've written a lot about politicians' charities, and how they allow lobbyists and others to get around limits on campaign contributions. But an article in today's New York Times presents a new form of abuse of a politician's charities (although it's not as different as it first seems).

To what extent should financial disclosure rules be applied to nonprofits that do government work?

According to an article in Sunday's New York Times, two years ago New York State extended disclosure requirements to the board members of nonprofits "affiliated with, sponsored by or created by a county, city, town or village government." The goal was more transparency in quasi-...

We don't know why the Summit County developer is running for a council seat (see the most recent blog entry), but we do know why a sheriff's sergeant in Rancho Murieta, California, is running for the Sacramento County Community Services District Board: to get off-duty sheriff's deputies to provide security in his area. And according to an article on ranchomurieta.com, he is very frustrated that, if elected, this is the one issue...