City Ethics: A One-Stop Shop for Municipal Ethics
Residents of New Jersey and, in particular, municipal employees and officials, have a new place to turn to learn about city ethics and programs regarding best practices in government ethics: City Ethics (http://www.cityethics.org/). Recently, two new projects were instituted by City Ethics, an organization that originated out of the Municipal Division of the Council on Government Ethics Laws (COGEL). The projects include a blog about municipal ethics and a Model Municipal Ethics Code Project, both available at http://www.cityethics.org/
The municipal ethics blog includes analyses of news items and the opportunity for readers to post comments and create a dialogue about contemporary issues in municipal ethics. For example, recently, Robert Wechsler, Research Director for City Ethics, posted a California Supreme Court decision (People v. Chacon, February 8, 2007) that held that a council member accused of a conflict of interest could not use as a defense that she acted based upon the advice given to her by the city attorney. The blog also includes discussions about government ethics issues as well as book reviews on relevant subject matter.
The Model Municipal Ethics Code Project, accessible at http://www.cityethics.org/mc/introduction, has recently gone online. It is structured to encourage municipal ethics practitioners to share their ideas and experiences, best and worst practices, and enter into discussions about all of the elements of municipal ethics programs. By creating a forum for such discussions, municipalities throughout New Jersey and indeed the United States and beyond can develop cutting-edge ethics codes that are effective and thorough without having to reinvent the wheel.
Given that New Jersey has 566 municipalities, City Ethics (http://www.cityethics.org/) can serve as a useful site for municipal employees and officials to learn about best practices in municipal ethics and adopt meaningful and thoughtful ethics codes for their municipalities. In addition, since the topic of municipal and government ethics has become such a hot-button issue in New Jersey, residents of the Garden State can keep abreast of important developments in municipal ethics and contribute to the dialogue fostered by City Ethics, as well.
The municipal ethics blog includes analyses of news items and the opportunity for readers to post comments and create a dialogue about contemporary issues in municipal ethics. For example, recently, Robert Wechsler, Research Director for City Ethics, posted a California Supreme Court decision (People v. Chacon, February 8, 2007) that held that a council member accused of a conflict of interest could not use as a defense that she acted based upon the advice given to her by the city attorney. The blog also includes discussions about government ethics issues as well as book reviews on relevant subject matter.
The Model Municipal Ethics Code Project, accessible at http://www.cityethics.org/mc/introduction, has recently gone online. It is structured to encourage municipal ethics practitioners to share their ideas and experiences, best and worst practices, and enter into discussions about all of the elements of municipal ethics programs. By creating a forum for such discussions, municipalities throughout New Jersey and indeed the United States and beyond can develop cutting-edge ethics codes that are effective and thorough without having to reinvent the wheel.
Given that New Jersey has 566 municipalities, City Ethics (http://www.cityethics.org/) can serve as a useful site for municipal employees and officials to learn about best practices in municipal ethics and adopt meaningful and thoughtful ethics codes for their municipalities. In addition, since the topic of municipal and government ethics has become such a hot-button issue in New Jersey, residents of the Garden State can keep abreast of important developments in municipal ethics and contribute to the dialogue fostered by City Ethics, as well.
Michael M. Shapiro, Publisher and Managing Editor of ShapTalk.com, graduated from Rutgers College and Stanford Law School. Mike currently serves as the Chairman of the New Providence Democratic Party and Editor of The Alternative Press. Contact Mike at mike@shaptalk.com