<a href="http://www.nola.com/prisons/&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Louisiana Incarcerated</i> is an
investigative series</a> that ran recently in the New Orleans
<i>Times-Picayune</i>. It is a story rooted in an extremely poor ethics environment
that, despite vaunted ethics reforms (that many, including me, have
criticized), does not seem to have changed.<br>
<br>
The series has introduced into popular culture the term "honey

Check out <a href="http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/gov-scandals-spur-action-on-pension…; target="”_blank”">a
valuable essay on pension forfeiture</a> by Dylan Scott, which was
posted on the Governing website in February. The essay looks at the
various arguments for and against pension forfeiture, looks at how
these laws come about (after scandals), and provides information

I was on a panel this week as part of the annual Citywide Seminar on
Ethics in New York City Government, co-sponsored by the New York
City Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) and the Center for New York
City Law at the New York Law School. The panel was called
"Challenges & Solutions in Government Ethics in Other
Municipalities."<br>
<br>
I want to share two ideas that were raised by other members of the
panel, who included Mark Davies, the executive director of the COIB;

Here's an interesting conflict situation from San Mateo County, CA.
According to <a href="http://www.almanacnews.com/news/show_story.php?id=11284&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's <i>Almanac</i></a>, prosecutors are investigating
the selection by two school boards of a project architect
for construction projects at the same time that the project

My <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/using-confidentiality-smokescreen&quot; target="”_blank”">most
recent blog post</a> involved ethics commission confidentiality.
This one involves the other side of the coin:  ethics
commission transparency.<br>
<br>
I often send blog posts to officials I write about, hoping that they
will enter into dialogue about the issue, privately or online, or at

It's Attack the Ethics Commission week once again, this time in New
York State. According to <a href="http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/126018/binghamton-mayor-won…; target="”_blank”">an
April 16 article in the Albany <i>Times-Union</i></a>, a mayor from one
party filed a complaint against the deputy majority leader of the

I want to revisit a situation I mentioned a few days ago in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/how-not-accomplish-ethics-reform&quot; target="”_blank”">a
post about ethics reform</a>. Common Cause Rhode Island was
recommending a reform to deal with the situation where gifts are
made to officials by an organization that is not an "interested
party" (and therefore not subject to the gift ban) because it does

Last September, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/dc-legislative-immunity-case-alleging…; target="”_blank”">a
blog post</a> about the attempt by District of Columbia council
members to block a subpoena by employing a legislative immunity
defense. The case involves retaliation against a whistleblower who
had alleged improper council input in the awarding of a lottery
contract.<br>

Here's an interesting political activity situation out of La Crosse County,
Wisconsin. According to <a href="http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/o-malley-asks-f…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the La Crosse <i>Tribune</i> last week</a>, the county
administrator was involved in supporting a referendum to give the

Over the weekend, I read a <a href="http://works.bepress.com/rebecca_roiphe/1/&quot; target="”_blank”">March 2010 draft</a>
of Rebecca Roiphe's law review article "The Ethics of Willful
Ignorance," which appeared in the <a href="https://articleworks.cadmus.com/geolaw/zs000111.html&quot; target="”_blank”"><i>Georgetown