City Related

<p>I just watched this 6.5 Minute TED Talk that pulls apart all the reasons that we become "disengaged" in the political process.<br />
I think he has hit the nail on the head - he left me feeling a faint ray of hope - that we can use our power as voters to push for reforms of all of his points.<br />
Please watch - only 6 minutes, and it gives us some answers and maybe a way forward !</p>

The big news in local government ethics yesterday was the
publication of the final report of Quebec's Charbonneau Commission,
which investigated bid rigging in the Montreal area, involving not
only government officials and contractors, but also the Mafia and
Hells Angels (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/bid-rigging-organized-crime-and-state…; target="_blank">my

A Portland, OR mayoral candidate made an interesting pledge in
September, according to <a href="http://www.pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/273725-149550-wheeler-challenges-…; target="_blank">an

In <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/files/Lobbying-Chapter-Robert-Wechsler.htm&qu…; target="_blank">my chapter on local lobbying</a>, I argue that even quarterly
disclosure of lobbying activities is not sufficiently timely and
that lobbyists' disclosures should be supplemented by the

<p>Criminal enforcement of ethics violations usually involves fraud, and less so honest services fraud (which was essentially misuse of office) now that it has been essentially limited to bribery. And yet ethics enforcement rarely involves fraud, because ethics codes do not have fraud provisions. This is pretty strange, when you think about it:  the same misconduct being treated as apples and oranges.<br />
<br />

What are the government ethics implications of private security when
it goes beyond protecting specific businesses, malls, universities,
and gated communities, becomes an adjunct to or replacement of
an ordinary police force, and is done in conjunction with the public
police force and, often, using off-duty public police officers?<br>
<br>
<b>Favoritism</b><br>
One problem is that such private forces generally protect the most
wealthy neighborhoods. Setting up a neighborhood force with the support

David A. Marcello, the Executive Director of the Public Law Center
at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, has been keeping
close tabs on New Orleans' troubled ethics program. In 2011, <a href="http://www.law.tulane.edu/uploadedFiles/Institutes_and_Centers/Public_L…; target="_blank">he

<p>Anyone who follows my blog knows that my favorite city to write about is Vernon, CA, the "Dream Machine," a city with lots of industry and no one other than city employees who might complain about what's in their backyard, or call for oversight.<br />
<br />

<p>More from St. Louis County municipalities. According to <a href="http://m.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/municipal-courts-are-…; target="”_blank”">an article in Sunday's St.

<p>The word "fiefdom" does not appear in the <a href="http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachmen…; target="”_blank”">U.S. Justice Department's March 4 report</a> on Ferguson, MO's police department, but that is what the report describes. What is unusual about the fiefdom is that it is controlled by the council, not by an executive or attorney.