Gift disclosure and limitations are an important part of government
ethics. But rarely do we think of what gifts mean. Usually this goes
little further than politicians saying, "I can't be bought."<br>
<br>
But gifts aren't about buying. In fact, gifts are the opposite of

Most ethics codes effectively define a conflict of interest as a
conflict between an
official's personal financial interest and an official's obligation to the public interest. But this leaves out an enormous
number of personal interests, many of which are themselves financial,
including the financial interests of family members, business
associates, and favorite charities.<br>
<br>
Gift provisions often make it a violation for immediate family members

The NYC Campaign Finance Board has put together an excellent <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/doingbiz/home.html&quot; target="”_blank”">Doing Business
Database</a>, consisting of a searchable list of individuals (principal owners, principal officers, and senior managers of entities) “doing
business” with a wide assortment of city agencies and
quasi-governmental entities, including through contracts, bids or

This entry is a test of the html CSS code for various html tags...

<cite>I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
<b>Thomas Jefferson</b></cite>

This is normal text...

Last month, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/543&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote</a>
about the conflict of interest that led credit agencies to ignore the
risk inherent in mortgage-backed securities. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/business/23citi.html&quot; target="”_blank”">A
front-page article</a> in today's New York Times shows how a different

A controversy currently going on in Fairfield, CT reminded me that one
of the more easily misunderstood provisions of an ethics code is
the special consideration, preferential treatment, or favoritism
provision. The version in the City Ethics Model Code reads as follows:<br>
<br>

I may seem obsessed with legislative immunity, but it is both a timely
topic for so old a constitutional concept and a serious threat to local government ethics enforcement that, I feel, the government ethics
community should start dealing with offensively rather than, as it is
now being handled, defensively.<br>
<br>

I hadn't realized it, but two weeks ago Rhode Island Superior Court <a href="http://www.courts.state.ri.us/superior/pdf/07-6666.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">Judge
Francis J. Darigan dismissed</a> a state ethics commission case against
the state's former senate president, William V. Irons, due to

The DiMasi case, discussed in the most recent blog entry, is not the
only ethics case in Massachusetts that has drawn a lot of attention.
The result of a perception of increasing ethical misconduct has led the
governor to appoint a new task force on public integrity, according to <a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles…; target="”_blank”">an

This week, another state ethics commission is facing a defense of
legislative immunity. The state is
Massachusetts, and the legislator happens to be the speaker of the
house, Sal DiMasi.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/07/dimasi_asserts_imm…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Boston Globe</a>, one allegation against DiMasi (filed,