This week, Seattle's expanded Whistleblower Protection Code became
effective (attached; see below). As what appears to be the most
extensive local whistleblower code, it deserves a look from any
local government seeking to draft or improve whistleblower
provisions.<br>
<br>
The major changes to the code, according to the ethics commission's
(SEEC) website, are:<blockquote>

According to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/all-montgomery-council-…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Washington <i>Post</i></a>, two weeks ago, a public
campaign financing bill (attached; see below) was introduced,
cosponsored by all council members of Montgomery County, MD, a

"Access and Lobbying: Looking Beyond the Corruption Paradigm</a>," by
Dorie Apollonio, Bruce E. Cain, and Lee Drutman, <i>Hastings
Constitutional Law Quarterly</i> 36:1 (2008) (attached; see below), has some very valuable
things to say about local government lobbying, even though it
focuses on federal government lobbying.<br>
<br>
The authors note that, despite the greater focus of academics and
good government groups on campaign finance regulation, more money is

One Indian tribe wants to build a casino, another tribe already has
one in the area and doesn't want competition. You're a council
member in the city that can effectively block the casino from being built. Both tribes want your support, and are willing to back up
that support with campaign contributions. What do you do?<br>
<br>

I just received an e-mail announcing a search for a new editor of
the journal <i>Public Integrity</i>, the only academic journal in the field
in which I work. Here is the description of the journal by its
publisher on <a href="http://www.mesharpe.com/mall/results1.asp?ACR=pin&quot; target="”_blank”">the
journal's webpage</a>:<blockquote>

What should an ethics program do when an agency or department takes
ethics advice and enforcement into its own hands? This issue has arisen in
Hawaii County, according to two articles in <i>West Hawaii Today</i>, <a href="http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/property-tax-issue-ethics-bo…; target="”_blank”">one

Although citizen participation is not part of government ethics,
it's important to keep reminding ourselves that it is central to
government ethics, because it is a principal goal of government
ethics programs.<br>
<br>
Officials' ethical misconduct undermines citizen trust and
participation, but there are also other obstacles that get in the
way. One of these is the lack of opportunity to express opinions in

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/former-ec-members-can-help-filing-com…; target="”_blank”">a
recent blog post</a>, the background issue was the effect of
independent spending on a local public campaign financing program in
Santa Fe.<br>
<br>
Especially in the shadow of recent Supreme Court decisions<i>, </i>this
is currently a serious problem for many local public campaign

According to <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/02/ray_nagin_trial_live_covera…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the New Orleans <i>Times-Picayune</i></a>, yesterday former
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin was convicted on 20 of the 21 corruption
charges against him, primarily for bribery, honest services fraud,
and tax fraud.<br>
<br>

Since most local ethics commissions do not have the authority to
initiate their own investigations or draft their own complaints
(although in many cases this authority is not expressly withheld),
there is a special role that former EC members, especially chairs,
can play:  filing complaints that no one else will file.<br>
<br>