Yet another brief has been filed in the <i>Carrigan v. Commission on
Ethics of the State of Nevada</i> case, this time <a href="http://caseinfo.nvsupremecourt.us/document/view.do?csNameID=19690&csIID…; target="”_blank”">the EC's supplemental brief on remand to the Nevada Supreme Court</a>.<br>
<br>

What can be done when a public agency that gives gifts to public officials
destroys its gift records?<br>
<br>
This question arises from <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/north-fulton/records-erased-after-council-11863…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Atlanta <i>Journal-Constitution</i> last week</a> about
the Alpharetta (GA) Convention and Visitors Bureau, an independent

<b>Legal Disciplinary Proceeding as Ethics Enforcement Forum</b><br>
Occasionally, government ethics enforcement spills out from ethics
and criminal proceedings into other types of proceeding. Since Maricopa County's officials have managed to turn
ethics and criminal enforcement into a form of internecine warfare, the state's
lawyer disciplinary program has gotten into the action.<br>
<br>

Another serious problem posed by making a legislative immunity defense in the local
government ethics context can be seen from reading <a href="http://boardofreps.org/committees/legrules/2011/items/lr28033/lr28033_s…; target="”_blank”">the recommendation of the investigating panel of the Stamford (CT) board of ethics.</a> In the section that provides reasons for dismissal of a complaint brought against a

A lot of interesting issues have arisen with respect
to Santa Fe's <a href="http://www.santafenm.gov/index.aspx?NID=1454&quot; target="”_blank”">Ethics and
Campaign Review Board</a>.<br>
<br>
<b>A Majority of Lawyers on an Ethics Board</b><br>
First, a new selection process was created, and the ethics board members were
replaced some time between the July and August meetings. Instead of

<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/louisville-council-member-digs-ec-dec…; target="”_blank”">Three
months ago, I wrote</a> about an ethics commission decision asking
for the removal of a Louisville council member, and the start of
proceedings in the council to do just that. I noted that the council
member's reaction was pure denial and attack on the ethics
commission.<br>

Once again, an elected official in the national eye took an
opportunity to teach the public about government ethics and used it
solely to distort government ethics and defend himself.<br>
<br>
The official is Texas Governor Rick Perry who, according to <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/09/13/2011-09-13_rick_per…; target="”_blank”">an

I came across a decision in Patty Salkin's <a href="http://lawoftheland.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/7th-circuit-holds-develope…; target="”_blank”">Law
of the Land blog today</a> involving a federal statute that
allows federal prosecution of those who give gifts to local

It is a given (although not a fact) that everyone wants to make it
as easy as possible to vote. Voting is the principal way most people
participate in a democracy, and choosing our local officials is the
way we determine the direction and quality of management of our community. In most countries,
voting day is a day off, but this is not true for most people in the
U.S. So it is important to find other ways of making voting easier for people with full-time jobs.<br>
<br>

The situation where New York City's mayor misrepresented the reason
for the resignation of one of his deputy mayors in order to protect
his privacy regarding a domestic dispute raises some interesting
issues about transparency, favoritism, and the extent to which the
private should be made public.<br>
<br>