The independence of ethics commissions and their staff is the single
most important aspect of a government ethics program. <br>
Who selects the commission members and their staff, and how, colors
everything about an ethics program and determines, more than any
other factor, whether the public has confidence in the commission's
advice and enforcement of an ethics code. So the news from Washington, DC and Atlanta is not good.<br>
<br>

The great Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes' 2006 novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Eagles-Throne-Novel-Carlos-Fuentes/dp/0812972554/…; target="”_blank”"><i>The Eagle's
Throne,</i></a> translated from the Spanish by Kristina Cordero, is one of
the best political novels I've ever read. I highly recommend it. The
novel also happens to contain some great quotes that touch on

I never know where I'm going to find something that inspires a
blog post on local government ethics. This time it was <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/jan/31/can-italy-change/&quot; target="”_blank”">an

<h4>I did stop and and try to invoke legislative immunity, but the camera would have none of it.</h4><br>

Efficiency is good, but sometimes friction is better. This is a
basic statement of the argument made in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/opinion/sunday/the-danger-of-too-much…; target="”_blank”">a
New York <i>Times</i> op-ed piece yesterday by Barry Schwartz</a>, a
psych professor at Swarthmore best known for his book <i>The Paradox of
Choice: Why More Is Less.</i><br>

Music to my ears in <a href="http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/11-CV-562-PLD-166-2012-02…; target="”_blank”">an
order yesterday</a> from the federal court for the Eastern
District of Wisconsin, in a case involving an unsuccessful attempt by certain
Wisconsin state legislators to claim the attorney-client privilege

Newspapers aren't called the fourth estate for nothing. But in
cities these days, they are more like the third estate, more important, that is,
than the clergy. In fact, their investigations and editorials can
bring down mayors, council presidents, even parties.<br>
<br>
Local dailies may be losing money hand over fist, and weeklies, online papers, and blogs have taken away some of their power,
but the dailies still have more power with respect to politicians and
policies than anyone else.<br>
<br>

What is corruption? I try not to use this word with respect to
government ethics, because it is commonly thought of as having to do
with criminal misconduct such as bribery, kickbacks, fraud, and
embezzlement. There is, however, the term "institutional corruption," which
deals with legal misconduct that undermines public trust. And right
there in the middle is government ethics, which involves illegal but
not criminal misconduct. All very confusing.<br>
<br>

At the Institutional Corruption conference sponsored by Harvard's Safra Ethics Center last Saturday, Ann Tenbrunsel, co-author of <i>Blind Spots</i> (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/search/node/blind%20spots&quot; target="”_blank”">my blog
posts on this book</a>), noted that people act not only against
what is written in ethics codes, but also against their own values.

At the Institutional Corruption Conference sponsored by Harvard's
Safra Center last Saturday, Bruce Cain, a professor at UC Berkeley,
pointed out that the permeable boundary between government and
business (and, I would add, business law) brings into government
many individuals who have a different concept of ethics. That is, in
the business world, loyalty to one's supervisors (or clients) and to
the company is the most important thing. In government, loyalty
should be to the public. Of course, this is not loyalty as we know