According to <a href="http://www.alldc.org/press/Rebrand%20PR%2010-14-2013v2.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">a
press release from the American League of Lobbyists</a>, the
association that lobbies for lobbyists, the membership has voted to
change its name and "brand" to the Association of Government
Relations Professionals.<br>
<br>
It's good that lobbyists do not run election campaigns, because

In early 2009, I started out <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/638&quot; target="”_blank”">a blog post</a>, "Type
'ethics' into the search line at utah.gov, and all that comes up
is Archery Ethics Course Online." That is no longer true. In fact,
the state legislature not only has an ethics commission, it even
passed a local ethics commission act. And in response to

<a>A
front page article in today's New York <i>Times</i></a> involves
allegations of self-censorship by Bloomberg News. But in addition,
it tells a very important story about government ethics.<br>
<br>
The article says that the Chinese government has retaliated against
news organizations, including the <i>Times</i>, for writing about one
subject:  the private wealth and interest of Chinese government
officials. Violence against minority groups, the

Ethics commissions are often stuck with one or more ethics
provisions that they are know are, in some ways, irresponsible. They
can recommend amendments to the provisions, but the legislative body
is free to ignore such recommendations.<br>
<br>
If this happens, an EC is not always powerless. It can often promulgate a
regulation that can interpret the language in a provision, or
provide exemptions, so that the provision is more responsible. The
Massachusetts EC, which has jurisdiction over local officials, has

Many local ethics programs are caught up in an ongoing battle with
the city or county attorney. Usually this battle goes on behind the
scenes. But in Honolulu, due to an unusual grant of budget oversight
to the corporation counsel, this battle has gone public.<br>
<br>

Toward the end of <a href="http://thefloridachannel.org/video/11413-joint-legislative-auditing-com…; target="”_blank”">a
video of the November 4 meeting of the Florida
Joint Legislative Auditing Committee</a>, the committee vice-chair
says that the testimony he heard was very "troubling." I felt the

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/appearance-problems-surrounding-reque…; target="”_blank”">an

Tomorrow morning, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the
case of <i>Town of Greece</i> v. <i>Galloway</i>, regarding prayer at meetings of
local legislative bodies. In addition to the important
constitutional questions regarding separation of church and state,
there are government ethics questions involved. This post will consider those ethics questions.<br>
<br>

<b>Update:</b> February 7, 2014<br>
It took the Jon Stewart Show three months to catch up with the City Ethics blog, but it was worth the wait. You have to watch <a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-february-5-2014/koch-blocked">the video they made about the Coralville, IA situation I discuss below</a>. The defense of what occurred is truly incredible.<br>
<br>

One of the most powerful lobbyists in the United
States has come out strongly in favor of independent, effective
local government ethics programs. The lobbyist is AARP. Here is a
quote from p. 1-13 of <a href="http://aarp54390.tizrapublisher.com/fullchapter-1/%7E%7EPdfSource/0&quot; target="”_blank”">the
Government Integrity and Civic Engagement chapter</a> (notably,
Chapter 1) of AARP's latest Policy Book:<blockquote>