Vernon, the "Dream Machine" I've written about in two previous blog
posts (<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/381&quot; target="”_blank”">1 </a>and <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/616&quot; target="”_blank”">2</a>), is back in the news.

Ottawa is currently in the grips of its mayor's influence-peddling
trial. The allegations are that the mayor tried to get another mayoral
candidate out of the race by offering him money and a federal position.
The Ottawa <span>Citizen</span> has <a href="http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Larry+Brien+Trial+chronology/1555208/…; target="”_blank”">an

There is a bright side to the British Parliament expenses scandal. For
one thing, many M.P.'s had the fortitude to walk right by that enormous parliamentary
trough and eat at home instead.<br>
<br>
Second, Parliament showed the world how a failure to do the right thing
and do it transparently — seek larger incomes — and instead to take
public money clandestinely and then, when news started leaking out, to
deny and obfuscate, can completely undermine trust in a public
institution.<br>
<br>

<b>See update below</b><br>
What is a local government ethics commission's role when a government
official has done something illegal or unethical that has nothing to do
with the official's work in government? That's the question facing the
Knox County (TN) Ethics Committee, according to <a href="http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/27/ethics-panel-defers-action-loc…; target="”_blank”">an

According to <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090526_Ethics_board_fines_…; target="”_blank”">an
article on yesterday's Philly.com website</a>, the Philadelphia Board
of Ethics fined its executive director $500 for violating the
confidentiality rules of the city's ethics code. The story is
instructive in how to handle such difficult matters. (Disclosure: I

One of the big stories in government ethics this week involves an attempt in
Tennessee to consolidate the state ethics and campaign finance
commissions, which on its face sounds like a good way to save money
during these tough times. But when politicians deal with ethics laws
and bodies, things are rarely that simple, especially when the state's ethics director is fired in the midst of the debate.<br>
<br>

There are many perils of an inadequate local government ethics code, as can be seen in Colorado Springs, which passed an ethics
code in 2007. Last week, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/747&quot; target="”_blank”">a blog entry</a> about the
new ethics commission's first complaint. Even before the ethics

<big>"As far as I'm concerned I never
connect anything I do in government with fundraising. I never have."</big><br>
<br>
—Illinois Governor Pat Quinn after it was learned that, in the midst of
his seeking serious ethics reform, including campaign finance reform, his

To those who read <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/713&quot; target="”_blank”">my
recent blog entry</a>, it will come as no surprise that, yesterday, the
Nevada Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the District Court's ruling
in the Nevada legislative immunity case (the Order of Affirmation, in
searchable form, is attached to this blog entry below).<br>
<br>

<span></span>Loyalty is a virtue that is out
of place in government, because loyalty is a personal virtue, a virtue
that involves one's own personal interest and that of the person one is
loyal to.<br>
<br>
Loyalty is a particularly difficult issue for local government
attorneys, because loyalty is essentially the principal virtue
for attorneys. Attorneys' conflicts of interest involve interests that
get in the way of complete loyalty to a client.<br>
<br>