After ten years of blogging and book and model code writing, having completed <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/publications/draft-chapter-on-lobbying&quot; target="_blank">my

A front-page article in Monday's New York <i>Times</i> quotes
Prayuth Chan-ocha, the general who currently rules Thailand, and who
declared a net worth of $4 million (nearly half in cash) on an
annual army salary of $40,000, as saying in a televised speech, "Do
not judge people based on your perceptions."<br>
<br>
This seems laughable but, unfortunately, it is not. Every day in the
United States hundreds, if not thousands, of local government

At last, I have put up online a final version of what has turned out to be
a separate book, <i><a href="http://www.cityethics.org/publications/lobbying&quot; target="_blank">The
Regulation of Local Lobbying</a></i>. This free 342-page
resource has three parts. The first part explains what local
lobbying is, how it differs from lobbying at the state and,
especially, the federal levels, and the special characteristics of

<br>
<h1 class="auto-style1">NEW! – Book on Local Lobbying</h1>
<h2>The first book on the regulation of local government lobbying</h2>
<h4>by <strong><a href="http://www.cityethics.org/RobertWechsler">Robert Wechsler</a></strong>, Director of Research-Retired
at City Ethics</h4><br>

One of the news media's biggest problems is failing to look at the
big picture and, instead, focusing on specific events and issues.
This is especially true when it comes to government ethics, where
the news media generally considers, and calls for, ethics reforms on
a piecemeal basis.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.innovateli.com/4844-2/&quot; target="_blank">An article on the
Innovateli website yesterday</a> shows that this same limited

When gifts from lobbyists to government officials are discussed,
what they consist of is usually money (including campaign
contributions), meals, trips, and services. A pending Missouri House
bill  (2059; attached, see below) seeks to extend the
definition of reportable "gift" from lobbyists in this context to
include:<blockquote>
<br>
sexual relations between a registered lobbyist and a member of the
general assembly or his or her staff. Relations between married

A couple of weeks ago, <a href="http://cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/new-york-state-articles/bar…; target="_blank">in
a <i>City and State</i> column</a>, veteran NYC reporter Wayne Barrett
hit the nail on the head regarding the responsibility for failures
to deal responsibly with conflicts of interest, specifically with

<p>Local governments that lack a lobbying oversight program do not have to merely throw up their hands when a huge procurement matter arises. They have the choice to set rules for that matter which, if it works, may later be applied more generally.<br />
<br />

When it comes to lobbying disclosure, local government agencies
should lead the way. According to <a href="http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2015/aug/27/ticker-free-airport-poli…; target="_blank">an
article in the San Diego <i>Reader</i>,</a> this is not the case
with the San Diego Airport Authority, whose lobbying firm did not

<br><b>"At the end of the day, anybody could fall into a trap like I
did."</b><br>