Two big local ethics/election stories come from Contra
Costa, CA and Tallahassee, FL.<br>
<br>
<b>Ethics Reform Package Features a Different Sort of Public
Campaign Financing Program</b><br>
According to <a href="http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2014/11/04/voters-decide…; target="”_blank”">an
article this morning on the Tallahassee <i>Democrat</i>

<p>This was a project that was helped by Represent.US and supported by citizen groups from right to left. I worked on the drafting of the referendum language. Here is today's press release from Represent.US: On Nov. 4th, 2014, voters in Tallahassee, Florida, made history by approving the first city Anti-Corruption Act in the United States by an overwhelming 2 – 1 margin. A small but dedicated group of progressives, conservatives, and independents put aside their differences to wage a historic battle against corruption in their community, and they won.

Former lobbyist, now jailbird, Kevin A. Ring shared some valuable
words of wisdom in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/for-virginia-ethics-advice-from-…; target="”_blank”">an
op-ed piece in the Washington <i>Post</i> this week</a>.<br>
<br>
He says that the gift limit should be zero, because any other limit

There is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/us/lobbyists-bearing-gifts-pursue-att…; target="”_blank”">a
front-page article in the New York <i>Times</i> today</a> about
the recent increase in lobbying and entertaining state attorneys
general (AGs), as well as in campaign contributions from businesses
who have a financial interest in decisions that these AGs make,

<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/313&quot; target="”_blank”">The last time I
discussed</a> contingency fee arrangements in local government
contracting was 2007 (the focus then was on attorneys). <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/nyregion/new-york-city-agency-and-ven…; target="”_blank”">A

Does the "broken windows" theory, as first stated in <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/3044…; target="”_blank”">a
1982 <i>Atlantic</i> essay</a> by George L. Kelling and James Q.
Wilson, apply to government ethics? The theory says that, if small
things like broken windows are ignored, people will think that no
one cares and, therefore, they will break more windows and move on

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/business/retirement/behind-private-eq…; target="”_blank”">Gretchen Morgenson's investigative piece in yesterday's New York <i>Times</i></a>
is extremely disturbing. According to her research, local and state government
pension funds have taken huge risks, and then allowed them to be
hidden from the public, by signing agreements with private equity

According to <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/county-638369-campaign-fppc.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
editorial in the Orange County (CA) <i>Register</i> this week</a>,
Orange County citizens will soon vote on an initiative that would
make their county the second one to turn its campaign finance
program over to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission

In the last few years, one of the biggest topics in the general area
of government ethics, including campaign finance, lobbying, and
transparency, has been the effect of huge campaign contributions by
corporations and billionaires, which has become increasingly doable pursuant
to a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions.<br>
<br>
These decisions do not appear to have had as much effect at the

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/11/nyregion/for-astorino-a-conservative-…
article today in the New York <i>Times</a>
</i>describes a situation that sheds light on pay to play. It involves the Westchester County (NY) county executive, who is
getting special scrutiny because he is running for governor and has,
throughout his career, as well as in this election, been openly