"Wheeling" is a term I just discovered. The context is that NJ governor Chris Christie made a campaign
promise to deal with "wheeling," and
then failed to, according to <a href="http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/04/a_chris_christie_reversal_o…; target="”_blank”">a
South Jersey <i>Times</i> editorial yesterday</a>. Here's how the

Because Massachusetts has one of the better state ethics programs with
jurisdiction over local officials, there
are very few local ethics programs, unlike the situation in Florida,
California, or Texas, for example.<br>
<br>
But there have been some recent ethics reform efforts at the local level. Most recently, according to

On Monday, Anthony Man of the <i>Sun-Sentinel</i> wrote <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/elections/fl-ethics-lobbying-restricti…; target="”_blank”">an excellent analysis of the lobbying elements of Florida Senate bill
846</a> (a copy of the bill is attached; see below), which was
recently passed by the senate unanimously.<br>
<br>

Self-justification is an important element in ethical misconduct,
cover-ups, and officials' public denials and explanations of conduct. It aids and abets our blind spots. It is a
sign of weakness, anxiety, and fear more than of poor character<br>
<br>
Self-justification is something each of us engages in. Sometimes we fight
it, sometimes we effectively compromise with it, and sometimes we give in to it.
The one thing most of us rarely do is think or talk openly about
it.<br>
<br>

When a city or county attorney's office does not represent the
ethics commission, should that office play any role in an ethics
proceeding? I don't believe it should.<br>
<br>
But that is what happened recently in Cobb County, GA, according to
<a href="http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/24902251/article-Board-of-Ethics-m…; target="”_blank”">an

Is local government ethics enforcement appropriate for local
legislators? This question is currently being asked in Sarasota
County, FL and Wyandotte County/Kansas City, KS. A key to whether
this is the right question is who is asking the question. In both cases, it is
local legislators who have been respondents in ethics enforcement
proceedings, and some of their legislative colleagues.<br>
<br>

Many local legislative bodies have ethics committees, even where there
is an ethics commission. The reason for these self-regulatory committees is that
these bodies have their own codes of conduct that go
beyond conflicts of interest, and which are enforced, discussed, and
amended separate from the city or county's ethics program. Some local ethics programs consist of nothing more than a council ethics committee and code of conduct, but that situation is not the topic of this blog post.<br>
<br>

I thought that I had covered all the blind spots that wreak such
havoc on local government ethics (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/files/lgep1-0%20-%20Robert%20Wechsler.htm#Bli…; target="”_blank”">the
section in my book <i>Local Government Ethics Programs</i></a>).

Here's a good-news story from Delray Beach, FL. But first the bad
news. According to <a href="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-04-07/news/fl-rscol-oped0407-2014…; target="”_blank”">an
op-ed by Rhonda Swan this week in the <i>Sun-Sentinel</i></a>, in
2012 the Palm Beach County inspector general "warned Delray that

Here's a good way to get around local government transparency laws.
If you want an appointee's activities to remain secret, let him be hired
by a private entity, give money to the private entity sufficient to
pay his salary, and don't communicate with him via government-owned
computers or smartphones.<br>
<br>
You might think that this would only occur with relatively obscure
individuals and entities, aides who can do dirty work that an agency
wants to keep hush-hush, hired by a social service agency that is