<p>This is the second of four blog posts on Zephyr Teachout's excellent new book, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=dctwBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=one…; target="”_blank”"><em>Corruption in America</em></a>: <em>From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United</em> (Harvard Univ. Press).<br />
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<p>U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez is to be indicted this week for bribery and failure to report gifts. Where there is an effective government ethics program, he would be easily found to have committed administrative government ethics violations. In a criminal case, the official has the edge (and he has already formed a legal defense fund, to obtain legal but inappropriate contributions from those seeking favors from him).
In <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/05/1327323/-Why-this-former-Speci…; target="”_blank”">a
an op-ed in the <i>Daily Kos</i></a> last Friday, Janos Marton — special counsel to New York state's recent Moreland
An individual who was asking me government ethics questions
recently became angry when I said that codes of conduct that go
beyond conflicts of interest are outside of my field. He said that
those who engage in bad conduct will probably also engage in bad
ethics. He referred to my exclusive focus on conflicts of interest
as "compartmentalization."<br>
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This reminded me how important it is to make it clear why government
ethics programs deal exclusively with conflicts of interests and
Rhode Island's lawmakers really know how to protect themselves. They
have fought hard and long to effectively preserve their immunity from
state ethics commission jurisdiction. However, with pressure on
them to recommend to their constituents a constitutional amendment
that would give the EC jurisdiction over them, despite the state's
Speech in (<i>sic</i>) Debate Clause, they have planted a bomb in
their proposed amendment that will ensure that even the state's good
<h4>"Trials are primarily about the truth. Consent decrees are primarily
about pragmatism."</h4><br>
— Second Circuit Court of Appeals in [Link removed] <i>SEC</i>
v. <i>Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.</a>,</i> Nos. 11-5227-cv, 11-5375-cv and 11-5242-cv (2nd Cir., June 4, 2014).<br>
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These words from an important court decision yesterday will most
likely be quoted in all sorts of contexts, including with respect to
One of the biggest problems in government ethics is determining
whether ethics reforms "work." <a href="http://theadvocate.com/home/7500362-125/5-years-later-does-jindals" target="”_blank”">A
well written article in the <i>Advocate</i></a> looked at Louisiana's
ethics enforcement since the reforms instituted by Gov. Jindal
became applicable in 2009. Louisiana's ethics program has
I've been thinking about what I wrote in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/police-officers-failure-report-crimin…; target="”_blank”">yesterday's
blog post</a> with respect to sanctioning police officers who knew about the
disability scam but said nothing. The principal cause for this,
besides each individual's self-interest, was a common uniformed
Here is the story of a good settlement reached in an Ohio ethics
proceeding involving a council member from a very small city.
According to <a href="http://www.cantonrep.com/article/20140102/NEWS/140109915" target="”_blank”">a
recent article in the Canton <i>Rep</i></a>, the council member voted on
an addendum to the lease of a golf course despite the fact that he
lived on adjoining property. He admitted to having violated the
<b>Allen County, IN</b><br>
According to <a href="http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130615/LOCAL/306159987/1002/LOC…; target="”_blank”">an