When it comes to lobbying disclosure, local government agencies
should lead the way. According to <a href="http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2015/aug/27/ticker-free-airport-poli…; target="_blank">an
article in the San Diego <i>Reader</i>,</a> this is not the case
with the San Diego Airport Authority, whose lobbying firm did not
The arrest of New York state senate majority leader Sheldon Silver
points to an ongoing institutional problem that is not limited to
New York state: the law firm as the perfect place to launder money.
The reason for this is that lawyer-client
confidentiality, at least as it is often practiced, allows a law firm, and the public office holders who are part of or do work for it, to keep its
clients, its services, its receipts, and its payments secret. <br>
<br>
ALEC has gone local. No, not Alec Baldwin. ALEC is the <a href="http://www.alec.org/" target="”_blank”">American Legislative Exchange Council</a>,
an organization that for the last few years has been drafting
The principal value of lobbying, according to both lobbyists and
government officials, is the expert information lobbyists provide. The
view is often stated that, with the resources they have, government
officials could not effectively do their job without the expertise
they obtain from lobbyists.<br>
<br>
The public, however, has no idea how this information is used. When
it turns out that a lobbyist effectively wrote a bill, argument,
letter, or speech that an official presents as his own work, no
Government ethics groups come in all shapes and sizes. City Ethics,
an ordinary nonprofit, has a website with huge amounts of
information about government ethics, and no financial resources. The
American Dream Initiative, a social welfare organization founded
last year, apparently has large financial resources, but no website
and no information about government ethics.<br>
<br>
This week, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/17/opinion/an-indecent-burial.html" target="”_blank”">Linda
Greenhouse pointed out, in a New York <i>Times</i> op-ed piece</a>,
that <a href="http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/D3B5DAF947A03F278525…; target="”_blank”">an
They said it couldn't — or, at least, wouldn't — be done, but you
can see it for yourself, in living Internet color: <a href="http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/ethics/provdrs/reg/svcs/vies…; target="”_blank”">non-required
disclosures made by Chicago officials and employees</a>.<br>
<br>
These are not annual disclosures, but mostly disclosures of gift
<b>Update: January 22, 2014</b> (see below)<br>
<br>
Yesterday, the Broward <i>Bulldog,</i> in Broward County, FL (home of Ft.
Lauderdale), published <a href="http://www.browardbulldog.org/2014/01/independent-special-districts-whe…; target="”_blank”">an
excellent investigative report on the lack of lobbying laws</a> in
<a href="http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Ethics-laws-outdated-not-used…; target="”_blank”">An
investigative article in Sunday's Albany <i>Times-Union</i></a> looks at
the local government ethics programs in 78 local governments in four
New York counties. What it found is sadly typical in most states.<br>
<br>
What it found was that at least 30 of the governments had not
<br>
It's here at last: the first government ethics app (at least
that I know of). According to <a href="http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/04/smartphone-app-lets-…; target="”_blank”">a
Capitol Alert post on the Sacramento <i>Bee</i> website yesterday</a>,