In the news

Expertise is one of the most difficult issues in local government ethics. In most cases, more expertise also means more potential conflicts of interest, and yet it can also mean more effective government. According to an article in yesterday's Park Record (Park City, UT), a Summit County Council candidate running against the head of a development company is focusing on this issue.

According to an editorial in the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Gov. Corzine has set forth a number of ethics reforms, which focus on cities and counties, where the corruption has been the worst in recent years (see my blog entries here, here,...

According to an article in today's New York Times and in yesterday's Huffington Post, the investigator charged by Alaska's Legislative Committee, before Sarah Palin was even being considered as a vice presidential candidate, found in...

The New York Times has an excellent article today on Alan Greenspan in relation to the current financial crisis. It provides food for thought about government regulation at any level.

Essentially, Greenspan believes that the cause of the crisis is Wall Street decisionmakers not acting honorably. However, the decision to regulate, like the decision to pass ethics codes, is to...

If you have a city car, why bother having your own? If you have a county cellphone, why bother having your own? If you have an honor system, why bother honoring it?

In Bellingham, Massachusetts, according to an article in the Milford Daily News, a town meeting moderator whose firm was also town attorney resigned as moderator when his firm was replaced as town attorney. He did this, he said, not out of spite, but because he would now represent clients before town boards and commissions, and this would conflict with his position...