On April 5, the county commission in Wayne County, MI (which includes Detroit) passed a new ethics
ordinance (attached; see below), following multiple scandals. It
contains many good provisions, but it does not create a government
ethics program. By this, I mean that it does not provide an
independent ethics commission, it does not provide for an ethics
officer or other independent staff member, it does not provide for ethics
training and only provides for written advice at an ethics board

<a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21552170&quot; target="”_blank”">The Schumpeter
column in this week's <i>Economist</i></a> talks about the corporate
chief legal officer (CLO), who due to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's
requirements has become a major figure at the top of every big
corporation. Much as the city or county attorney is a major figure
at the top of every local government.<br>
<br>

Here's an interesting conflict question. According to <a href="http://tewksbury.patch.com/articles/rauseo-tells-selectmen-he-may-have-…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Tewksbury <i>Patch</i></a> this week, a special town
meeting in Tewksbury, MA will soon vote on whether to go to referendum on the
question of replacing the town meeting with a council. The question

Former Maricopa County, AZ county attorney Andrew Thomas (with one
of his assistants) was disbarred on Tuesday on numerous counts
related to bringing false charges against other county officials over
a period of years, according to <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/04/10/20120…; target="”_blank”">an

An excellent <a>article on the front page of last Sunday's New York <i>Times</i></a> looks at a <a href="www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-13/pdf/2011-23311.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">proposal by the federal Office of Governmental Ethics</a> (OGE) to limit
two exceptions to the prohibition on accepting gifts from
lobbyists:  the "widely-attended gathering" (WAG) exception and

I have written about the need for ethics commissions to go beyond
the criminal enforcement paradigm, which limits commissions to determining whether an
individual respondent has violated an ethics provision or not. It is hard to find instances of a commission looking at the bigger picture, that is, at the common practices and unwritten rules that underlie an individual's ethical misconduct. I

One of the most damaging aspects of ethical misconduct in government
is that it decreases the amount of citizen participation in
government activities. People feel that their local government is
rigged to help politicians and their families, friends, and business
associates. It's not worth spending time getting involved in a
rigged system, unless your goal is to be part of the in crowd.<br>
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<a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/campaign-spending-shows-political-tie…; target="”_blank”">ProPublica
ran an excellent article yesterday</a> by Kim Barker and Al Shaw
about campaign, PAC, and Super PAC coordination and self-dealing,
primarily at the presidential level. What is so special about the
article is that it follows the money to where it is being spent.

A few days too late for St. Patrick's Day, <a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/the-reward-that-cost-250m-and-was-…; target="”_blank”">today's
Irish <i>Examiner</i> has a wonderful story</a> about catching officials
involved in ethical misconduct relating to land use. It's an old
story, but new to me, and probably new to you, as well. The occasion

It's amazing the lengths people will go to when they are accused of
bribery. Take Zehy Jereis, a former Yonkers, NY party chair who gave
nearly $175,000 to a Yonkers council member, and is being accused of
doing this in order to get her to make a pivotal vote in favor of his