<cite>This Editorial ran in June after the passing of a comprehensive
package of ethics reform bills in the Jacksonville City Coucil.</cite>
<h1>Ethics: This progress was historic</h1>
<b>Posted:</strong>June 19, 2011</b><br>
<p>Jacksonville residents have this self-image that we have a
progressive government. But consolidation was more than 40 years ago.</p>
<p>In creating a strong culture of ethics in city government,
Jacksonville has been left behind - until now.</p>

When an ethics commission and its staff are at odds, and the commission
is dealing with complaints against high-level officials, it is always
best for everyone when those officials had nothing to do with the
selection of the ethics commission's members or its staff. In other
words, you never fully appreciate an EC's independence, in terms of its
selection process, until things get ugly. Things got ugly in Georgia
this week. <br>
<br>

An ethics controversy involving the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) has
led to the resignation of four of the seven members of the APS ethics
commission, a failure to replace them, and a threat to the schools'
accreditation status.<br>
<br>

According to the Wisconsin Supreme Court majority, a state legislature
does not have to follow ethics laws, even ethics laws expressly
designed to meet constitutional requirements. This shocking statement
comes from <a href="http://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.html?content=html&se…; target="”_blank”">the
opinion

On Friday, the <a href="http://www.louisvilleky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/14CED111-9ACE-4040-BDAF-7CF75F…; target="”_blank”">Louisville
ethics
commission found that a council member intentionally violated</a>

<a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/10-568.pdf&quot; target="”_blank”">The
Supreme Court reached a decision today</a> in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/search/node/carrigan&quot; target="”_blank”">the <i>Carrigan</i> case</a>,
and it is nearly unanimous. However, it deals with only one part of the

Last week, Wisconsin taught us the lesson that even when you go to great lengths
to ensure a nonpartisan, independent ethics body, there will be
politicians who accuse it of being partisan when it makes decisions
against their interests. The good thing is that, when the body is truly
nonpartisan and independent, these politicians look ridiculous. But often there is a serious confusion among nonpartisanship, bipartisanship, and independence with respect to the selection of ethics body members. It is important to understand the distinctions among them.<br>

I don't write about Jacksonville much, because my colleague at City
Ethics, Carla Miller, is the city's ethics officer. She has been
working hard to ensure that the city's ethics commission is given more
authority and independence, and that the city's ethics laws are
improved. This week, the council will be moving closer to approving, or
undermining, reforms.<br>
<br>
Instead of giving my opinion of what she is seeking, which is basically

The dream of every ethics commission is to have a guaranteed budget.
But it is not really a dream for two reasons. One, there are ethics
commissions with guaranteed budgets. And two, it is a reasonable policy
that can be countered only by a local legislative body's need for
control. This blog post will look at the arguments for and against a
guaranteed budget, as well as several examples of and approaches to
guaranteeing budgets for ethics commissions and similar independent
bodies and agencies.<br>
<br>

It's important for ethics commissions to be prepared for the occasional
official who, along with his or her attorney, will do anything to stop
or at least delay its investigation, including attacks on the EC itself. A
good example of how relentless an official can be is John J. O'Connor,
now former head of the SUNY Research Foundation, whom I wrote about in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/classic-example-closed-fiefdom">a