Lifting the Fog Over Lobbying Compliance - updated with impact of COVID-19 on NYS lobbying community
[WEBINAR] "Walking the Line" - Public Agencies', Officials' and Employees' Roles in Local Elections
[WEBINAR] Who Does What? Defining Proper Roles for Staff and Elected Officials
Bribery & Corruption in the Military. A Front-Line View (Part II)
Ethics Laws and the Importance of Transparency for Public Officials
Blogging for Lawyers
There is not a public servant, employee, or trustee who doesn’t have a war story regarding an unruly public meeting or hearing gone wild. Perhaps it was just a quirky public comment. Maybe it’s a viral comment from a public...more
Kathleen Wright Croft v. Donegal Township, 2021 WL 1110567 (W.D. Pa. 2021) (A township supervisor’s motion for a preliminary injunction against her fellow supervisors was denied upon finding that she was not deprived of...more
After last week’s municipal elections in Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, both mayors kept their seats in both cities while one of the city council races in Fort Collins is still too close to call. In addition, voters...more
There’s a fine line public agencies, officials and employees walk between legally disseminating information and illegally advocating for or against a ballot measure or candidate. Originally published in PublicCEO - October...more
Candidates and ballot measure elections can drastically change the course of any local agency, but how involved can — and should — a public agency, or its officials and employees, be? In this webinar, Best Best & Krieger...more
State agencies and New York State municipalities must have a reasonable basis to deny Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) requests or they will be subjected to mandatory attorney’s fees when a denial is successfully...more
Employment Requirements for Building Officials - The Michigan Attorney General has interpreted a recent law requiring municipal building officials to be “employed” by a municipality to mean that building officials cannot...more
Most cities in California (an overwhelming 97 percent) operate under the “Council-Manager form of government,” under which the elected councilmembers directly hire and oversee one top-level employee (the city manager) to...more
On September 15, 2015, the Court of Québec rendered a judgment? in which it found a former mayor and a vice-president of an engineering firm guilty of several criminal offences relating to municipal corruption. These...more
On January 28, 2015, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered a final judgment against Gary Burtka, the former mayor of Allen Park, Michigan, upholding the Security and Exchange Commission...more
Community leaders need to be attentive to the new laws that will take effect in 2015 that deal with issues specifically relating to cities, special districts and other public agencies. These new laws cover everything from...more
Earlier this month, the SEC used a “control-person” charge in a settled action against an elected municipal official in connection with municipal bond offering. Enforcement touted that “first” on the Monday after: “An...more
Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced fraud charges against the City of Allen Park, Michigan (City), and two of its former officials—the former City Mayor and former City Administrator. It is the...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission is making it clear: Government leaders who issue misleading financial information are putting themselves at risk. Several recent actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission...more