There is a great deal of misunderstanding concerning the difference
between a conflict of interest and a gift. It appears that most
people consider them two completely different things. In fact, they
represent two kinds of conflicts, pre-existing conflicts and
conflicts that are created by an event. The confusion between the two
characterizes a situation that led to an ethics complaint in Los
Angeles.<br>
<br>

Sendhil Mullainathan's new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Scarcity-Having-Little-Means-ebook/dp/B00BMKOO6S&…; target="”_blank”"><i>Scarcity:
Why Having Too Little Means So Much</i></a> (Times Books) has been
getting a lot of attention lately. Although I haven't read it yet, I

I wrote about it in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/ec-selection-process-and-recusal&quot; target="”_blank”">a
June 2011 blog post</a>, and then again in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/when-ec-members-appointing-authority-…; target="”_blank”">a

This blog has been closely following cases where the legislative
immunity defense has been used in government ethics proceedings.
This week, the same issue arose with respect to an open records
proceeding in Wisconsin. According to <a href="http://www.isthmus.com/daily/article.php?article=40931&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article posted on the Madison <i>Isthmus</i> site yesterday</a>,

Here is an interesting government ethics argument. According to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/17/clive-palmer-questions-con…; target="”_blank”">a
Lenore Taylor column in the <i>Guardian</i></a> this week, mining
billionaire Clive Palmer, who is running for a seat in the
Australian parliament, says that he cannot have a conflict of

I recently read the latest, third edition of <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=UYhDA4h43sIC&printsec=frontcover&sourc…; target="”_blank”"><i>The
Ethics Challenge in Public Service: A Problem-Solving Guide</i></a> by
Carol W. Lewis and Stuart C. Gilman (Jossey-Bass, 2012). This is the
second most popular text used in Public Sector Ethics courses,

This is the third blog post on the West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) matter. This post considers the matter in the context of a wide range of problems affecting CRAs throughout southern Forida, which can be seen in reports in the area's newspapers and blogs. Several CRAs have
also been investigated by various offices and commissions.<br>
<br>

<h4>"None of the unions ever asked me for a quid pro quo. They, like
anyone else who is giving, they just want to know their points get
heard. They are not asking that you agree with it. They have said,
‘We don’t expect you to agree on everything. We understand it is a
negotiation.’”</h4><br>
—Toni Harp, candidate for mayor of New Haven, CT, on the $48,000 she
and the alderpersons effectively on her ticket were given by labor

<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/timing-and-content-withdrawal-partici…; target="”_blank”">The first blog post on the West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) matter</a> looked at it
from the point of view of the timing of withdrawal from
participation. This post will look at it from the point of view of
post-employment issues. A third post will look at this matter in

Timing is everything. That is the principal lesson to be learned from a conflict situation in West Palm
Beach, FL. According to articles <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/west-palm-be…; target="”_blank”">in