<br><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corruption-American-Politics-Michael-Genovese/dp/…; target="”_blank”"><i>Corruption and American Politics</i></a>, an essay collection edited by Michael
A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Myers (Cambria, 2011), has some
excellent essays, especially those that deal with institutional
corruption. The only serious criticism I have of the book is its

An interesting issue has arisen in Louisiana. It involves an
important distinction in government ethics, between law and
function.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://theadvocate.com/home/3663529-125/ethics-board-bese-member-may&qu…; target="”_blank”">an
AP article this weekend</a>, the Louisiana Board of Ethics found
that a state board of education member may keep both this position

In <a href="http://www.fwweekly.com/2012/08/15/chipping-away/&quot; target="”_blank”">a
long cover story in last week's Fort Worth <i>Weekly</i></a>, Peter
Gorman looked at the state of government ethics in Fort Worth and,
most important, some proposed changes to its ethics program that
take it in the wrong direction. Since it was the only article on the proposals, and Gorman

<b>Update:</b> August 18, 2012 (see below)<br>
<br>
There is a longstanding pattern of scandals in the cities that the
Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) chooses for its annual meeting. COGEL was in Chicago when Rod Blagojevich was
arrested, and in New Orleans when Rep. Jefferson was re-elected despite the bribery
charges against him (they held). COGEL stayed in the D.C. hotel where then
mayor Marion Barry had just been arrested.<br>
<br>

Is it important that an ethics complaint be based on information
that is known personally? Some ethics codes require this. But the
fact is that many ethics violations are done secretly. It can take
some serious, professional investigation to obtain the facts and
relevant documents. This is why investigations by journalists are so
valuable. What they uncover is often used by citizens, good
government organizations, and others as the basis for an ethics
complaint. And sometimes a government employee who has suspected

(<b>Note:</b> This post has been revised, based on a response from Steve Berlin, executive director of Chicago's ethics board. I had made the silly assumption that the underlined language in the ethics reform ordinance was new. It turns out that much of that language has been there for some time. So I've deleted some comments and made changes to others.)<br>
<br>
Recently, the Chicago council passed a series of ethics reforms
(attached; see below) in response to the first report of the city's

When it comes to post-employment restrictions, a mayor should not be
considered as just a member of the legislative or executive branch, no
matter what the form of government (strong mayor or mayor-council).
A mayor has a special status that sets her apart from other local
officials. Post-employment restrictions that apply only to one's
branch or agency should not be relevant to a mayor. During the
cooling-off period, a mayor should not do business with or lobby the
government at all.<br>
<br>

A big controversy surrounding the race for mayor of Honolulu is
focused on the state's pay-to-play culture of the past, and what pay
to play actually is. The reason for this is that a former Hawaii
governor is running for mayor, and he is being supported by Bob Watada, a former
state Campaign Spending Commission executive director who is
known for bringing the state's pay-to-play culture to its knees
during his 1994-2005 term in office.<br>
<br>

<b>Ethics Code Amendment Without a Scandal</b><br>
Sometimes conflict situations, when they are handled responsibly,
lead to changes in an ethics code. This happened recently in Prince
William County, Virginia, according to <a href="http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2012/jul/25/gainesville-supervisor-pres…; target="”_blank”">an
article on the insidenova.com website</a>.<br>

I believe that an ethics commission/ethics officer approach to local
government ethics is far better than an inspector general approach. The
simultaneous creation of an EC/EO approach in Palm Beach County, FL
and an IG approach in neighboring Broward County provides a small
laboratory for seeing which works better.<br>
<br>
Thankfully, Brittany Wallman of the <i>Sun-Sentinel</i> has compared the