<b>Update:</b> June 20, 2012 (see below)<br>
<br>
The saying goes that there are two sides to every story. But more
commonly there is a story and ways to spin the story. The problem
is telling them apart.<br>
<br>
This week, <a href="http://newsok.com/oklahoma-ethics-commission-needs-clear-consistent-rul…; target="”_blank”">a

Independent agencies are more likely than regular government
agencies to get into trouble, because they are usually more closed
and less supervised. And yet officials too often listen to agencies'
calls for independence from ethics programs, as if the
"independence" meant something positive that should be respected,
rather than that the agencies are unsupervised and unaccountable. An independent agency's
independence is only something positive when it is a watchdog

What does it mean to be a "high-caliber" nominee for a position on a
local ethics commission? Does it mean someone who has been in law
enforcement, a prosecutor or judge whose presence sends the message
that the law will be enforced? Or does it mean someone who appears
to be independent of the local government officials who are under
the commission's jurisdiction?<br>
<br>

What is the worst thing a government official can do when a conflict
situation becomes public? Is it worse to misrepresent the law, to
make accusations against those making the conflict situation public,
or to ignore the situation and hope nobody notices?<br>
<br>
New York governor Andrew Cuomo has done all of the above with
respect to the exposure of a secret gift of $2 million by an association of gambling
companies to a 501(c)(4) organization closely associated with the

Luis Toro, the director of Colorado Ethics Watch, raised an
important local government ethics issue in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/luis-toro/colorado-open-records-act_b_155…; target="”_blank”">a
recent Huffington Post post</a>. It is a problem that is not
peculiar to Colorado. It is also a problem that could benefit from a government ethics approach.<br>
<br>

<b>Update</b>: July 17, 2012 (see end of this post)<br>
<br>
Here's an interesting conflict situation from Concord, NH. According
to <a href="http://concord-nh.patch.com/articles/another-ethics-complaint-filed&quot; target="”_blank”">a
recent article in the Concord <i>Patch</i></a>, a state representative
filed ethics complaints against Concord's mayor and one of the

A poor and disconcerting judicial decision on local legislative immunity came
down on May 24 from the U.S. District Court for the District of
Kansas, <a href="http://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/dct-order-dismissing-indi…; target="”_blank”"><i>Kickapoo
Tribe</i> v. <i>Black</i></a>.<br>
<br>

<br>This is the first of a series of posts that will pull out valuable
pieces from my new book <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/ethics%20book&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Local Government
Ethics Programs<i></a>.<br>
<br>
One reason that government ethics is described in terms of
obligations is that government officials have a fiduciary duty or
obligation
toward the community for which they work (and which, in some cases,

There are usually many ways to deal responsibly with a conflict situation. But
there are also many irresponsible ways to deal with a conflict situation. One
of the irresponsible ways is to be considered today in Portland, OR, according
to <a href="http://www.katu.com/politics/Portland-Police-Bureau-Officer-John-Myers-…; target="”_blank”">an

<br>
Washington <i>Post</i> columnist Robert McCartney raised an issue in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/mayor-vincent-gray-explain-or-resig…; target="”_blank”">a
column this weekend</a> that I feel should be taken seriously. The
background story is that two of the current D.C. mayor's campaign
aides confessed to having paid a mayoral candidate, and offered him