It's a nice coincidence that, just when I was preparing to write a
blog post about a trendy thing in the corporate world called
"open-book management," the former comptroller of Dixon, IL, Rita
Crundwell, pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge that she
siphoned more than $53 million from the town of only 16,000 people

After <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-aisen…; target="”_blank”">Common
Cause questioned the fitness of Baltimore's government ethics

News from British Columbia provides strong evidence of how difficult
it is for anyone to deal with his own conflict situation, even a government
ethics professional. No one should think that it is easy for someone
to see an appearance of impropriety relating to himself or to respond to a conflict allegation against him in anything but a personal manner. A
government ethics program must facilitate the process of dealing responsibly with a conflict situation by allowing, or even
requiring, officials to seek neutral, professional advice. And a

A situation that arose recently in Atlanta shows how important
it is to require applicant disclosure of relationships with local
government officials, and to hold applicants accountable. According to <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/atlanta-city-councilman-lamar-willis…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Atlanta <i>Journal-Constitution</i></a>, Atlanta's ethics

A conflict situation in Albuquerque presents an excellent
opportunity to consider just what it is about conflicts that makes
them problematic. According to <a href="http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/11/10/news/conflict-alleged-on-poli…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Albuquerque <i>Journal</i> on Saturday</a>, the chair of
Albuquerque's Police Oversight Commission also directs the auxiliary

It's been a few years since <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/679&quot; target="”_blank”">I wrote about the
problems with the partisan, or "bipartisan," administration of local elections</a>.
One thing that arisen from this year's election is a strong feeling
that it is high time that New York City's Board of Elections be reformed.
Hopefully, this process will get a great deal of publicity, and

<br>The headline of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/09/us/politics/voters-oust-lawmakers-acc…; target="”_blank”">a
New York <i>Times</i> article today</a> is, "Ethics
in Play, Voters Oust Incumbents Under Inquiry." One's first
impression upon reading the article is that people are throwing
unethical politicians out of office. The system is working. But upon

With the frequent confusion of person and office, sometimes it's not
that easy to tell the difference between a gift to a local
government agency and a gift to its director. This confusion can
open an agency director to accusations of ethical misconduct.<br>
<br>

Several years ago, one of my town's department heads was arrested
for embezzlement of funds. When someone had reported to the first
selectman (effectively the mayor) that this was going on, the first
selectman went to the department head and asked him if the report
was true. The department head denied it. And the matter was dropped.<br>
<br>
Did the first selectman have an obligation to the public not to
accept his department head's word, but instead dig deeper to find out the

A presidential election day is a good time to consider how vague,
character-based ethics rules can be misused.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/international/21565144-pitfalls-aspiring-…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the October 27 <i>Economist</i></a>, the Iranian constitution,
for example, requires a presidential candidate to have the