<b>Incompatible Political Offices</b><br>
According to <a href="http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/5453073-74/macey-county-council#axzz…; target="”_blank”">an
article this week on the TribLive website</a>, an ethics complaint
was filed against an Allegheny County, PA council member for working
as a constituent services representative for a state senator whose

One of the biggest problems in government ethics is determining
whether ethics reforms "work." <a href="http://theadvocate.com/home/7500362-125/5-years-later-does-jindals&quot; target="”_blank”">A
well written article in the <i>Advocate</i></a> looked at Louisiana's
ethics enforcement since the reforms instituted by Gov. Jindal
became applicable in 2009. Louisiana's ethics program has

Who should be allowed to file an ethics complaint? Certainly any
citizen of the jurisdiction. But what about multiple citizens of the
jurisdiction? Should an ethics commission exclude a complaint from
them?<br>
<br>
This is what happened recently in Brookfield, CT, according to <a href="http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Ethics-investigation-into-Brookf…; target="”_blank”">an

Here's a new role for an ethics commission:  mediator in a
dispute between other government oversight offices. According to <a href="http://theadvocate.com/news/neworleans/neworleansnews/8048851-123/rift-…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the <i>Advocate</i> last week</a>, New Orleans' ethics board
has appointed two of its members to mediate in an ongoing dispute

Over the last few decades, governments have privatized many of their
functions. One function that governments have begun privatizing in
recent years is lobbying higher-level governments. Since every government is at a higher level than a local
government (think not
just regional, state, and federal, but numerous agencies at each of
these levels), local government has the most lobbying to do.<br>
<br>
Most local government lobbyists are in-house (or officials do the

<b>Update: January 22, 2014</b> (see below)<br>
<br>
Yesterday, the Broward <i>Bulldog,</i> in Broward County, FL (home of Ft.
Lauderdale), published <a href="http://www.browardbulldog.org/2014/01/independent-special-districts-whe…; target="”_blank”">an
excellent investigative report on the lack of lobbying laws</a> in

In preparation for the chapter on lobbying that I'm working on, I
just finished reading a 2002 book entitled <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=iutSz6VKRXoC&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>The Ethics of
Lobbying</i></a> from the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown
University (Georgetown UP). It's an excellent introduction to a
number of issues involved in lobbying of the federal government,

Some jurisdictions have an ethics provision entitled Prestige of
Office that, among other things, limits work that officials can do outside of government.
Here is the language that the Baltimore school district uses (this is
essentially the same as the city government's Prestige of Office provision, but with the addition of the phrase "public position," which turns it into a basic misuse of office provision):<blockquote>

Settlements of ethics proceedings are usually a good thing for
everyone involved. They save officials
the cost of a proceeding and prevent officials from digging
themselves deeper and deeper into defenses, denials, and cover-ups,
which are usually more harmful to the public trust than any ethics violation. They save taxpayers the cost of a proceeding and
of possible appeals. They save the community the pain of going through
an extended fight over an ethics violation, which can hurt its reputation, escalate, and

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/13/us/politics/texas-vote-buying-case-ca…; target="”_blank”">An
interesting article in today's New York <i>Times</i></a> focuses on an
unusual feature of an unhealthy local government ethics environment.
This feature is payment for votes, something we think of in terms of