According to <a href="http://phoenix.gov/news/091012ethicsreviewtf.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
official press release</a>, yesterday the mayor of Phoenix
announced the formation of an Ethics Review Ad Hoc Task Force, with
eleven members appointed by the mayor, to be chaired by former
Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and staffed by the city’s law
and human resources departments.<br>
<br>

Harvard professor Michael Sandel's new book <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=06-54FCTQ9AC&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>What Money
Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets</i></a> (Farrar Straus, 2012) has a
lot to say about the effect of commercial, market values on American
culture, including on American government. Sandel's book focuses on
"the expansion of markets, and of market values, into spheres of

Last week, I wrote blog posts about how Chicago's ethics program
needs <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/chicago-task-force-second-report-iii-…; target="”_blank”">more

The worst recommendation in the Chicago ethics task force's second report (attached; see below) involves the role it wants the corporation counsel to
play in the city's ethics program: prosecuting attorney.<br>
<br>
I feel strongly that a corporation counsel's office should play no

<br><br>Although the Chicago Ethics Reform Task Force, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/chicago-ethics-task-force-files-first…; target="”_blank”">in
its first report</a>, came out strongly in favor of more

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/nyregion/assemblyman-lopez-is-a-fierc…; target="”_blank”">A
front-page article in yesterday's New York <i>Times</i></a> provides an
excellent portrait of a government official who, although doing much
good work, made it all about himself and those with whom he has

Ethics program independence is, as far as I'm concerned, the single
most important issue in ethics reform. Nothing gains the public's
trust as much as an ethics program that is independent from the
officials over whom it has jurisdiction.<br>
<br>
Ethics program independence means that officials do not participate
in an ethics program in any way other than drafting ethics ordinances
(and even here, most of the work should be done by or in
conjunction with outside people who have special expertise). Independence

<b>Yet Another Mayoral Charity Mess, This Time in Toronto</b><br>

<br>The principal topic of the <a href="http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/sites/default/files/Report%20of%20the%20…; target="”_blank”">second report of the Chicago Ethics Reform Task Force</a> is the
relationship between the Board of Ethics and the city's dual
inspectors general, one for the executive branch (the IG) and a new

Today, I received a copy of the <a href="http://www.dallascityhall.com/council_briefings/agendas/agendas_0812/Fi…; target="”_blank”">Dallas
City Council agenda addendum for its August 22 meeting</a>.
This addendum contains (pp. 11-17) extensive information about a
large ($434,495) contract for "the assessment of the City’s current ethics
guidelines and the development of an ethics training program." City