The concept of a conflict of interest is sometimes stretched far beyond
what government ethics laws say, usually by those making accusations
against government officials. But here is an example where a respected
judge stretched the concept even further. It comes from<a href="http://www.altlaw.org/v1/cases/854172&quot; target="”_blank”"> a decision</a> by Judge

According to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR20090…; target="”_blank”">a
Washington <span>Post</span> article</a>
this weekend, U.S. Senators Conrad and Dodd were cleared by
the Senate Select Committee on Ethics with respect to the senators'
membership in Countrywide Financial's VIP mortgage program. The

<a href="http://csbj.com/hazlehurst/2009/08/11/mayor-officially-ethical/&quot; target="”_blank”">John
Hazlehurst's observation</a> on the Colorado Springs ethics
commission's dismissal of a complaint against the mayor is valuable

People frequently belittle government ethics reforms as meaningless
window dressing intended to make politicians look like they're being
ethical, something I have said myself in certain contexts. Yet it is
worth reading an extreme view of this, which oddly comes from a
journalist writing a blog that takes "an evangelical Christian
viewpoint."<br>
<br>

Chicago politicians are endlessly creative. A few weeks ago <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/810&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote</a> about an
alderman on the zoning committee who pushed for zoning changes to help
developers who used his wife as their realtor. It turns out that his
boss, William J. P. Banks, head of the zoning committee, is going to
have a retirement party. The party's guests are being asked to send

Again, a very public federal conflict of interest matter provides
valuable material relevant to local government ethics. This
time it's former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.'s
relationship with the firm he formerly headed, Goldman Sachs, the
subject of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/business/09paulson.html&quot; target="”_blank”">a

<B>Update below</b> (August 10, 2009):<br>
When an official has a conflict of interest, the usual course is to
withdraw from any discussion or vote on the matter. But this is not
always the case. Sometimes a conflict of interest requires that a
responsible official speak up.<br>
<br>

It's rare to see the clear results of unethical behavior in local
government. Sadly, exceptionally clear results can be seen in a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/us/01alabama.html&quot; target="”_blank”">front-page
article</a> in today's New York <span>Times.</span><br>
<br>
Jefferson County, Alabama, the home of Birmingham, had a serious

A chapter in Jonah Lehrer's new book, <span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Decide-Jonah-Lehrer/dp/0618620117/&quot; target="”_blank”">How
We Decide</a>,</span> sheds some interesting light on ethical
decision-making. The book shares the latest discoveries neuroscientists
have made using hightech views of the brain at work, especially when it
is making various sorts of decisions.<br>
<br>

Thanks to <a href="http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2009/07/houston-city-council-ethics-forms-…; target="”_blank”">Texas
Watchdog</a>, "an independent, nonpartisan entity [that] serves as a
government watchdog and training center
where reporters, bloggers and activists of any stripe learn how to
uncover waste, fraud and corruption in state and local governments,"