Campaign Finance

The term <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_ethics&quot; target="”_blank”">"situational
ethics"</a> derives from a particular theory of a priest named Joseph
Fletcher, but it is more generally understood to mean dealing with
ethics in terms of a particular situation and particular goals
(ends-oriented ethics). In other words, it is ethics that allows for
different rules in different circumstances, but also for self-serving,

The Supreme Court has been nibbling away at campaign finance laws for
years now, but the one thing all but one of the justices agree on is
that requiring the disclosure of contributions does not infringe on
first amendment speech rights.<br>
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<b>Targeting Ethics Reform</b><br>
In May, I wrote <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/cook-county-ethics-reform-proposal&qu…; target="”_blank”">a
blog post</a> about ethics reforms proposed by a Cook County (IL)
commissioner. I felt they didn't have much chance of passing.<br>
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<b>Update: September 26, 2010</b> (see below)<br>
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Disclosure forms are important. Sometimes, even secondary information
can be important. But it can take a lot of work to get behind the
information that appears on disclosure forms. And when you do get behind the
information, it can look real ugly, even if it's completely legal.<br>
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The law on limiting campaign expenditures has been changing over the
past couple of years. But the law on limiting campaign contributions
has not.
The standard in many instances is more liberal than with campaign expenditures, in others it is the
same. And the application of the standard is highly contextual. A law in one jurisdiction, or at a particular time, might be constitutional, while in another jurisdiction, or at a different time, it is not.<br>
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Contribution limits are an important part of government ethics,

There's <a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/07/13/2333236/embry-texas-gop-dems-us…; target="”_blank”">a
good
opinion piece</a> by Austin <i>American-Statesman</i> columnist Jason
Embry this week on the political use of ethics complaints. The
instances of abuse of the ethics process is what has led many
jurisdictions to prohibit any mention of filing an ethics complaint and

<b>A Poor Approach to Being Ethical</b><br>
It's great when candidates talk up acting ethically. But it's going too
far, and setting a bad precedent, when a candidate takes a lie-detector
test in which he says that he never engaged in unethical activities in
private- or public-sector work, <a href="http://moultrieobserver.com/local/x1671040400/Candidate-takes-lie-detec…; target="”_blank”">as

You be the judge. According to <a href="http://blogs.ajc.com/georgia_elections_news/2010/06/18/ethics-commissio…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Atlanta <i>Journal-Constitution</i></a>, a board member of a
Georgia-based insurance company set up ten PACs in Alabama that
together gave $120,000 — ten times the legal limit — to a candidate for

<i>Image by Joe Wu</i><br>
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Following up on <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/transparency-anonymity-and-moral-cour…
previous blog post</a>, here is the first of two examples
of local government ethics matters involving anonymity outside of an
internet context.<br>
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When is a gift a campaign contribution? This issue has been raised in
the trial of a Manhattan surrogate court judge, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/nyregion/20anderson.htm&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's New York <i>Times</i></a>.<br>
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