Technicalities should play little role in discussions about local
government ethics. But because there are ethics laws, people
unashamedly talk about ethics technicalities. They see ethics laws as
like any other law, not as minimal requirements that deserve more
thinking about what's appropriate than about what's legal.<br>
<br>

Earlier this week, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/737&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote</a>
about an application of Louisiana ethics law that I felt was too
severe. Today I'm going to write about a Louisiana ethics provision, a fairly typical gift provision that applies to local government officials,
which is too weak, because it has a big loophole in it.<br>
<br>

If the governmental ethics community had a publicity program, the
headline of <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1181034.html&quot; target="”_blank”">a
front-page article</a> in Tuesday's Kansas City <span>Star </span>would be a call to arms:<br>
<br>
<h1><small>Legislators agree: Ethics laws
are puppies, not pit bulls</small></h1>
<br>

In Louisiana, local government officials cannot do any sort of business
with anyone who does business with their local government. This
position is supported by a settlement reached with an Alexandria
council member, according to <a href="http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20090505/NEWS01/905050319/-1/NEWSFRO…; target="”_blank”">an

In March, I started out <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/684&quot; target="”_blank”">a
blog entry</a> by saying that "I thought I might write a piece about
using ethics
complaints for the purpose of political harassment" with respect to
Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. But then I discovered that the particular
ethics complaint was legitimate, and talked about the complaint itself
and how it applied to local government situations.<br>

It appears that Jackson County (MO) legislators will allow the county
ethics commission to have jurisdiction over them, after a very ugly
series of incidents, including the <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/608&quot; target="”_blank”">resignation of the entire
ethics commission</a> and the <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/674&quot; target="”_blank”">false presentation</a> of

For a year and a half, in her <a href="http://lawoftheland.wordpress.com/category/ethics/&quot; target="”_blank”">Law of the
Land blog</a>, <a href="http://www.albanylaw.edu/sub.php?navigation_id=157&user_id=64&quot; target="”_blank”">Patricia
Salkin</a> has been writing about local government ethics issues in

One thing that keeps striking me about the recent decisions in the
legislative immunity cases relating to government ethics is how
little they attempt to distinguish cases outside the ethics field from
these cases in the ethics field.<br>
<br>
Is government ethics no different from criminal prosecution, no
different from civil suits?<br>
<br>

Here's a short opinion piece by Walter Dellinger, head of the Office of
Legal Counsel under Pres. Clinton. It's part of a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/01/AR20090…; target="”_blank”">series
of such pieces</a> that will appear in tomorrow's Washington <span>Post. </span>The opinions concern what

Last month, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/696&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote</a>
about problems involving municipal bond sales and advice in Tennessee.
Yesterday, the state comptroller wrote <a href="http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/apr/30/guest-column-meltdown-…; target="”_blank”">a guest column</a> explaining what