I've written about the issue of <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/independence-ethics-administration-sh…; target="”_blank”">ethics
commission jurisdiction over independent agencies</a> and
authorities, which arose in recent years in such places as
Jacksonville, Louisville, and Palm Beach and Broward counties in
Florida. The issue has arisen again in Broward County, in a

Should an ethics violation be an impediment to future jobs? In
general, I don't think so, especially when the violation was handled
responsibly, that is, without a denial, cover-up, and costly,
unnecessary investigation and hearing process. But sometimes ethics
violations involve much more than the failure to deal responsibly
with a conflict.<br>
<br>

Defining what lobbying is is one of the most important parts of a lobbying law. Not only are many definitions of lobbying
unclear or full of loopholes, but it is difficult to get even a good definition across, because the popular concept of lobbying is different from what lobbying really is.<br>
<br>
This can be clearly seen in what has recently happened in the Orange

I have written <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/search/node/luzerne%20pledge&quot; target="”_blank”">three
blog posts</a> criticizing the ethics program created by Luzerne
County, PA in response to one of the <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/689">ugliest scandals in
modern times</a>. Luzerne County finally got its ethics program

They have various names, such as councils of governments (COGs),
joint powers authorities (JPAs), and regional councils or commissions, but whatever names they have, these
local government associations are often left outside of both
local and state government ethics programs. And yet, as the term
"joint powers authorities" implies, they do wield power and do spend
or affect the spending of money, often huge amounts of money in transportation, water, and other construction projects.<br>
<br>

There is a great deal to be learned from the selection process for
the new District of Columbia Board of Ethics and Government
Accountability, which is effectively complete. Three weeks ago, I
wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/problems-nominating-top-government-la…; target="”_blank”">a
blog post</a> about the nomination of Robert Spagnoletti to be

Providing incentives to attract companies or get them to expand
their operations in a city or county has always been a controversial
issue. Incentives are seen as necessary to attract, keep, or expand
jobs locally, but they can also be an unnecessary way to get local
governments into bidding wars (or what is presented to them as a
bidding war) with other local governments, to the benefit of
companies who are going to build or expand no matter what local
governments offer.<br>
<br>

New Orleans must have the largest number of civic organizations that
focus on government ethics, and the greatest amount of activity among them. There is the <a href="http://www.metropolitancrimecommission.org/index.html&quot; target="”_blank”">Metropolitan
Crime Commission</a>, a watchdog group that has filed ethics

<br>Here is one of the most useful sections of my new book <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/ethics%20book&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Local Government
Ethics Programs</i></a>. Summer is upon us, and most ethics
commissions that do not have a case before them do not meet. In
fact, many ethics commissions are nearly
inactive all year long. But this doesn't have to happen. There's a lot that needs to be done.<br>
<br>

There is <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/files/lgep1-0%20-%20Robert%20Wechsler.htm#Gov…; target="”_blank”">a section of my new book <i>Local Government Ethics Programs</i></a> (click and scroll down to subsection 9) on the need for more transparency in the provision of ethics
advice. What I just realized is that this is another