Showing posts with label ethics laws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethics laws. Show all posts

Sunday, January 9, 2022

NYC Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB)

 NYC Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB)

"The main purpose of ethics laws lies not in punishing wrongdoing, but in preventing it, not in catching people, but in teaching them.

The Conflicts of Interest Board is the independent New York City agency tasked with administering, enforcing and interpreting Chapter 68 of the New York City Charter, the City's Conflicts of Interest Law, and Section 12-110 of the Administrative Code, the City's Annual Disclosure Law. We hope you'll enjoy learning more about this agency, and government ethics in general, by exploring the tabs on the left and the other offerings on our site.

Through a combination of engaging training, confidential advice, and vigorous enforcement, the Board seeks to prevent ethics questions from becoming ethics problems for public servants. Ultimately, however, integrity in City government rests upon all of us, public servant and private citizen alike. Only when each of us plays his or her part will the public trust inherent in public service be ensured."

Saturday, November 20, 2021

After 25 years, Miami-Dade’s Ethics Commission remains a guardian of the public trust | Opinion; Miami Herald, November 19, 2021

RADIA TURAY, Miami Herald; After 25 years, Miami-Dade’s Ethics Commission remains a guardian of the public trust | Opinion

"“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.” The late U.S. Rep. John Lewis

Twenty-five years ago, the voters of Miami-Dade County spoke up and did something. They used the power of their vote to amend the county’s home rule charter to create the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.

Their vote was based on the basic truth that government should serve the governed, not the governing. They believed that local government employees and government officials had a special duty to abide by a standard of ethics in order to maintain the trust of those they serve. The Ethics Commission was created to serve as the guardian of the public trust. As a result of the referendum, the County Commission enacted the Miami-Dade Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance and other ethics laws that every local government official and government employee must abide by in Miami-Dade County.

The Code establishes a minimum standard of ethical conduct and behavior, and its provisions promote transparency in government and protect against cronyism and self-dealing."

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Andrew Gillum’s Florida Ethics Troubles Just Got Worse; Slate, January 25, 2019

Mark Joseph Stern, Slate; Andrew Gillum’s Florida Ethics Troubles Just Got Worse

"However Gillum chooses to proceed, it’s clear that Friday’s findings undermine his account and, by extension, his credibility. Throughout the campaign, he insisted that he paid his share of the lavish excursions and never accepted gifts from lobbyists. That narrative is now almost impossible to believe. True, Gillum never performed favors for lobbyists in exchange for their largesse, which would be a federal offense. But even without a quid pro quo, his cozy relationship with lobbyists did not seem to comport with Florida law.

Should Gillum run for office down the road, this blunder will likely be used as a cudgel, risking his ability to win a primary, let alone a general election. Perhaps it is too soon to write off his political career. But if he ever again throws his hat in the ring, his opponents will be ready to pounce with a sordid—and substantiated—tale of corruption."

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Exiting Ethics Chief Walter Shaub Calls Trump White House 'A Disappointment'; NPR, July 7, 2017

Peter Overby, NPR; Exiting Ethics Chief Walter Shaub Calls Trump White House 'A Disappointment'

"Walter Shaub Jr., outgoing director of the Office of Government Ethics, says there's a new normal for ethics in the Trump administration.

"Even when we're not talking strictly about violations, we're talking about abandoning the norms and ethical traditions of the executive branch that have made our ethics program the gold standard in the world until now," Shaub told All Things Considered host Robert Siegel...

Defenders of federal ethics standards say OGE, and the ethics laws themselves, may be at a turning point.

"Previous administrations have sort of cared a lot about trying to do something about a violation of those conflicts of interest standards, and we have an administration now that honestly doesn't care," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight, or POGO."

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Elizabeth Warren: Trump’s nominees are putting us all at risk by ignoring ethics laws; Washington Post, 1/19/17

Elizabeth Warren, Washington Post; Elizabeth Warren: Trump’s nominees are putting us all at risk by ignoring ethics laws

"Congress must take these ethical requirements seriously. No Cabinet member should receive a hearing before his or her background checks, financial disclosures and ethics agreements are finished and senators have had time to review them. Nominees should be forthcoming and transparent. If those hearings have occurred, nominees who have not completed their ethics reviews should return for another round of questions after that information is made available. Senators should be thorough in their assessment and questioning of nominees. And financial conflicts with official duties must be eliminated.

I recently introduced legislation that would protect the president and vice president from financial conflicts and constitutional violations by requiring them to fully disclose and divest themselves of all personal financial interests. No such law is necessary for Cabinet officials because the laws on the books are perfectly clear.
If Congress ignores these basic ethics requirements today, the American people and the nominees themselves likely will pay the price tomorrow."