ethics commission has

you talked about the importance of the ethics commission in being a body that enforces ethics. what do you consider to be the most important charter mandate that is currently not being met by the commission? >> what it is not doing now that could be done? i think it is slowly the slow realization that open government is important for what it does. without that, -- open government and good government work together, hand in hand. supervisor kim: what criteria did you think should be used to determine who registers as a lobbyist? >> who registers as a lobbyist? supervisor kim: what criteria should be used? >> i think anybody who is a hired gun to interface with a political official should register. you have this great area involving managers. i don't think the way that they cloak it should be the difference. i think the rules should be written in a way that anybody who is actually doing that should register. the other thing i think they should do is to make sure that the person with whom they meet should accurately put that into their calendar. supervisor kim: my last question, th

the ethics commission is a mess. it has systematically tried to alienated key political natural supporters who want to see open government, by bringing everybody for small amounts of finance. that is not what we want to see. we want to see the ethics commission actually supporting government that is open and honest. that is what we will see these contracts go to the right place. we saw a situation where a waiver was granted for tony hall to go to treasure island. one says political use was exhausted their, the commission decided to hit him with major finds right before he decided to run for mayor here the upshot was he was found to have not committed for what they said he did. perjury went down in those proceedings. yet the district attorney never prosecuted. we do not have a commission that is going to stand up and insist laws be followed, that integrity be respected, that tampering with evidence and perjury not be accepted in those proceedings. i believe mr. grossman comes with those qualifications. ms. liu mention

grossman has been very helpful with many issues, but sunshine and ethics -- both sunshine and ethics. i like that he is not affiliated with any political or business body. he is retired. he has 50 years of experience, which is very important to us. it shows his civic engagement. i think it would be commendable. because he is also in retirement, he can attend and dedicate a lot of time to this position, which i think is important considering many commissions or boards have difficulty with attendance at this time. in my experience, he has been very tempered. i tend to be more outspoken, and he seems to be more tempered and brings a sense of fairness and balance to the discussion and helps me real myself in. i appreciate his ability to do that and convince people. i would urge your appointment for this person, mr. grossman. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am richard. i am here to speak in favor of the employment of allen grossman for a number of reasons. first of all, mr. grossman modestly said that upon retirement he learned a lot about sunshine. he has done more than that.

ethics is the golden rule. if you are seeing somebody face- to-face, you treat them in a manner in which you hope to be treated. when we are so reliant on technology, e-mail's, and as the messages, we do not make a personal connection. that leads to a greater sense of me versus we. that is a very important thing. as far as pop culture, it tends to glamorize those who are out of the norm. the people who are getting away with things are the ones all over the news. the teenage mother shows -- if i mentioned teen-age motherhood to my mother in high school, i would have found a bar of soap in my mouth. we have to have a serious discussion about keeping that in check and making sure people realize that is not the norm. that is not be accepted. that is the aberration. >> technology has made it tougher. if you are -- you are a little more cautious. i remember when we first had e- mails. my answers were yes, no, and thank you. [laughter] you did not want to say anything that would go viral. i changed the rules. it makes

you have medical ethics, government ethics, the golden rule. it is a fascinating subject. sometimes it is a dilemma. it is a moving target. sometimes it concerns the law and sometimes it does not concern the law. i am fascinated by the subject. you think about the old story of robin hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. it could make a case that his stealing was unethical, but giving to the poor was moral. you could make a case for a spouse cheating on her partner in a marriage. obviously unethical, but probably not breaking the law. so sometimes the law is involved and sometimes not. sometimes there might be a law that would dictate something about it, but it is never prosecuted. it is a moving target and a fascinating conversation for all of us here tonight. when i thought about this subject, i thought what were some of the most recent situations that ethics get involved in. i think the recent financial meltdown in the last several years, and banks and loans and institutions like that, and it works both ways. you had sophisticated loan officers who were de

then ethics commission. >> i'm from the budget and legislative analyst's office.to refer you to page three-five of the report. under the government code, the board appropriates money based on the fund each year. the mayor's budget actually took about a total of $7.3 million from the balance thieu'to balane budget. there are annual appropriations each year. in addition, you will see the board of supervisors has also approved a supplemental appropriations to this fund that will total about $1.8 million. this supplemental appropriation ordinance will appropriate another $1.3 million of the general fund reserves. it would restore the balance if it is appropriated. i believe the ethics commission can speak to this. there is very rough estimates. without this appropriation, up to about $4.7 million, there would be a fund balance of about $300,000. if this committee appropriates -- [inaudible] supervisor chu: thank you very much. ethics commission. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i don't have a prepared statement. i am here to answer your questions about this. i do want

the ethics commission dismissed 14 cases. this resulted -- and without explanation, because the dismissal notices were simple one-page, have paged notifications. the task force has no power to sue anybody. and it was a problem because the constant dismissal of these cases undermined its authority both in the public's mind and in the city departments and officials and agencies that were subject to which jurisdiction. since no one else could do with, i decided i would do it. i felt there were strong legal battles -- strong legal grounds to do it, and i did. the case was filed in two weeks. i was told i would get the records and i was told my lawyers attorney fees would be paid. as a result of that, it triggered i think some recognition on the part of the commission itself that the sunshine laws have a direct relationship with what they are doing, because open government means good government, and good government relies on an open government. to that extent, i think that lawsuit has had considerably positive fallout. as far as m

and i relied on him to present any ethics related issues to the ethics counsel and follow the ethics counsel at fisa and i understand that is what he did. when i returned to the agency in 2009 having served there in the late 80's and the early 90's appointed by president ronald reagan and president bush, i read many letters from madoff's victims, people who had lost everything. moly entire focus was on how to fix the sec to ensure that another tragedy like madoff could never happen again. and how to make sure with the contours of the securities investors protection act that we could get the most money to people who were literally losing their homes. i am proud of how much was accomplished in the past two years working tirelessly with an extraordinary staff to improve the operations of the commission and enhance the public perception of the integrity of our work and fairness of our decisions. but while mr. becker did solicit and follow advice from the ethics counsel, i realized in light of this incident that is the chairman i have to ensure that we go beyond what may be required in an

in my opinion, coverups should be exposed but not by the ethics commission. in regards to both applicants, i would like to say the following statement -- in the future, please don't quit in frustration. i feel this would be hard and are nervous. i know that you're going to run into many opponents. >> i would like to support dorothy. when i saw your picture on a magazine when you are running, and then i read the article, i had a good feeling about what you would do and bring to the city. i am born and raised in the bay area. i am 60 years old. i have a difficulty with people who come from other cities and then become residence. what i have experienced many times is that they bring their thoughts and ideas from those other cities. we are very unique in san francisco. we have people from all different race, creed, color, diversity. i believe that she has a sensitivity to the caucasian, african-american, latino, mexican, and all the other cultures and the city. thank you. >> is your any other public comment? >> i would vote for this alan dye. the documentation th

i expect him to go to the ethics office and ethics counsel. >> you are aware of the ethics counsel reported to the chief counsel, general counsel? >> career employee. >> direct reports. >> did you suggest he do any research to do the amount of character that he had? later, when becker was providing advice about equity valuation method, did you direct him to look at potential conflict of interest? >> it didn't occur to me that this close the account would be impacted? >> it didn't disclose to you >> it didn't disclose to you that he was a trustee who closed the account? >> i don't recall. a am trying to get to the heart of this. this raises major questions and you understand the public's interest and investor's interest. to the same degree, when mr. becker was briefed in court and took recommendations in terms of net equity decision valuation method, you didn't direct hit me to accuse himself. get those out of the way. we care about transparency and disclosure but here in congress with regulars, chairman shapiro, thank you for public service. i am not here. we need to get to the heart of thi

she served for six years on the san francisco ethics commission focusing on campaign finance reform, building transparency and integrity in government and setting the bar high on governmental ethics not just in san francisco but nationwide. arlene helped create this people's budget and an budget for numerous organizations in san francisco. many of these organizations still exist today. the people's budget has had a new generation of people's leaders to protect our safety net in san francisco. she's committed herself for h.i.v. and ltbt work during the height of the aids crisis serving as the executive director and the public policy work for the women's aids network and the aids legal referral panel. today she coaches organizations and individuals to success, inspires those who seek balance and integrity as they manage a commitment to social justice and a full and sustainable life. david campos and supervisor avalos honor reey len hanson -- honoree ilene hanson. [applause] >> thank you so much supervisor avalos. i very much appreciate you presenting on behalf of commissioner chi in su

the fact is, our news code of ethics was created in 2004 and has not been fully updated since then. we just finished a process whereby a task force of 13 people from inside and outside npr, led by bob steele, one of the experts and journalistic ethics, letter reviewed and there were recommendations that are coming out of that of thatled a -- led a review and their recommendations coming out of that. we will release that in the spring. one example -- we're going to be creating a new position at npr of standards editor. he is on top of the checks and balances that we have in npr. we haven't ombudsman, lisa shepherd, here today. we have a correction is policy. we have a comments section on our website. the addition of a news standard editor will help us be another critical check in our process. look for more about that sen. >> there was a question anticipating that issue. the task force has called for an into the practice of allowing npr journalist to appear on other media outlets under long- term contracts. and a specific question -- i don't think it is relevant here, but how would th

you can't expect the church to have the same ethics or the same approach to these very important morals someone who is in a secular institution. the presupposition is that the church -- if the church would just accept the morals of the society -- no, i'm -- >> everything would be fine. >> what the professor, what i hear him saying is if the only time we talk about sex in any way, ethics, morality, practice, is in response to aberration, deviant behavior, if that's what drives the conversation, then the outcomes are going to be -- >> if we didn't treat this as a tmz story, if it wasn't boys, if it was girls, women, which is happening all the time. >> we wouldn't be having the conversation. >> we wouldn't be having this conversation. part of what i'm trying to suggest here is not about any one compromising their fundamental faith commitments, i'm not suggesting that. i'm not trying to push my own liberalism onto your particular congregation. >> not at this point. he's going to make that argument in a minute. >> i'm going to have an argument on christian grounds, not on the argument of be

the supervisor avalos: this appropriation is going to be able to enable the ethics commission to be ablee public financing program for the mayor's race this november as well as set in motion the public financing program for the 2012 elections that will happen that year. according to the budget analyst report, we could end up with about $300,000 depending on how many candidates will be receiving public financing for the mayor's race. it could be that we have less money than that. to me, it makes a lot of sense that we find as full as we can be public financing programs that we have the type of campaign that the voters have approved a about a decade ago. the real intent behind the program is to level the playing field for candidates so that candidates that don't have a great deal of access to funds would have a shot at being a candidate, let alone a shot at winning an election for mayor. that takes out the influence of a lot of big money that happens in the budget campaigns that could have a corrosive the effect on the elections moving forward. that is something that meets san franciscans

work ethics. doesn't give up. but it's her choice. >> charlie: and do you buy into the idea that i didn't. the best thing that can ever happen to you in life is to find those things that you're passionate about. >> totally, totally. >> charlie: if you can do that, then you have found one of the great secrets of life. >> absolutely, absolutely. here's where i might disagree a little bit. i think you can tell a young child who is six or seven, pursue your passions today. charlie they're just going to -- the passion's going to be facebook and video games, right. >> charlie: so you have to -- did she end up loving being a musician. >> she's not going to be a professional musician but she loves the piano. >> charlie: and she practices hard. >> she does. three hours a day. lulu came back to the violin after i got off her back she quit and came back. she doesn't play at the same level but she loves it again. >> charlie: are you okay with that. >> that's another reason i wrote the book actually. it's such a different crea

there's a cannon of ethics for judges, and there's like a rule book. we don't have a global rule book, but an ap style book. they are on a case by case, newspaper by newspaper, tv station by tv station basis. we are hearing some of that, but it's not something that's up in my face. i think what we may be hearing is as a human being, it's probably right not to fill in the blank, put the rape victim's name in, show the dead body, ect., and some of the rules that are human societal rules, most newspapers, when tim was my boss in minneapolis, you didn't print the victims name or the picture of a dead person, that's the general rule, but i think judges probably say if you are just being an ethical human being, here are things society is better off if you don't cover, and because of the ethics in their realm, they probably think that if you were just a good person as a journalist, there's stuff you just wouldn't put in the paper. >> well, let's talk about that because, in fact, what most of the standards for press buyer guidelines includes stuff like stateme

>> reporter: actually there is a course in here, it has to do with journalism ethics. a good course. >> it is. >>> whiter teeth, in two hours, they put whitening strips to the test to see if they live up to the hype. >> houston, final type, we will stop. >> shuttle discovery lands back on earth. what they accomplished. >>> maybe it's safe to go in the water after all.

a probe this week essentially saying that walker possibly violate other campaign finance rules or ethics rules in his conversation with the fate david koch if you will you know walker alluded to g.o.p. senators g.o.p. lawmakers in some areas sort of being under attack or wavering about their support on walker's sort of union busting budget repair bill and so as walker you alluded to these people could use some support he was attempting to conspire to to to to get a big donor to bring some money in in a way that was along wisconsin it's got the ethics laws that's what the democratic party is looking at you know or was he coordinating with these this massive donor to run some ads or some kind of support campaign for these on the fence republicans very interesting what lisa how long do you think that that was constant fourteen will be able to hold out and and given that the governor was successful today in blocking people except the fact cast of the tickets from getting in what does this portend for the future i also understand that there was a there was something very recently where the th

owner to to bring some money in in a way that was a violation of law it was cancer it's about the ethics laws that's what the democratic party is looking at you know it was you coordinating with these this massive donor to run some ads or some kind of support campaign for these on the fence republicans very interesting what lisa how long do you think that the wisconsin fourteen will be able to hold out and and given that the governor was successful today in blocking people accept the back half of the tickets from getting in what does this portend for the future i also understand that there was a that there was something very recently where the the chief of police turned over was capitol police or what so that he wasn't going to have his officers be the it wasn't praetorian guard what was a palace guard for the governor. that's right so the governor is actually in plame to the citizens of the state even further today by the nine them access to the state capitol here which basically has been open for the last two weeks until the until the capitol police and the local police decided that th

consider appointment one member term ending february 1, 2017, to the act six commission -- to the ethics commission. supervisor kim: thank you. i believe we have both applicants here. mr. allen grossman and miss dorothy liu. this will be an opportunity for you to speak to the committee in terms of your qualifications and why you would like to serve at the commission. >> i am not allen grossman. i did not quite get that last part. -- i am allen grossman. i did not quite get that last part. you want me to review? i just did not understand what you said. supervisor kim: take a couple of minutes to present your qualifications and why you would want to sit on the ethics commission. >> ok. well, you have the supplemental material provided. i think it tells you pretty much about my status in the city. i have lived here 33 years. i moved from chicago. i have been in california since 1976, pretty good education, and i have had 50-plus years of private practice as a business lawyer. that being said, there are a few other things i want to expand on that

on an ethical basis, rec & park did not do its job. they did not to be out reach needed to get people together to discuss this critical issue in that part of the city. i've been asked the board to allow scrutiny and examination for the action or lack of action on the part so-called rec & park. -- on the parts of rec & park. thank you. aha supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker, please. >> why am i advocating for keeping the native plant recycling nursery center open. the recreation and park commission makes it sound so, this, and industrial operation in golden gate park. this is a common sense and laudable effort. a local effort to think globally have an act locally. with the other side, you have to pay attention. voting for their wishes. i am certainly swayed. wanting to make it public comment. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i was hoping to be last, but thankfully near the end of public comment. we have heard no opposition to the resolution. so, please go ahead, pass the resolution,

. >> politicians had been waiting for the ethics committee recommendation for a long time, hoping for a clear recommendation on how to handle the controversial issue of pid. but the committee was split. >> the ethics committee has approved two courses of action, limited approval on the basis of clear, legal stipulations, or of ben. parliament has to and will decide -- or a ban. island has to and will decide this manner. >> -- parliament has to and will decide this matter. >> supporters say it is necessary for parents to run the risk of miscarriage or giving birth to a disabled child. >> we need to find a compromise between the two arguments. neither of the view is presented here can claim to be the sole answer. none of us has a monopoly on the truth. >> opinions are divided. now the german parliament has to decide what to adopt, and that process will start next week. >> here in germany, the ball is coming to a close in the southern city of music. it was marked with the traditional women's dense in the food market. -- dance in the food market. shrove tuesday as a last day before the be

as adults and taxpaying citizens, we have an ethical and moral responsibility to provide a framework for these young folks to express themselves and to do so in a safe and positive manner. >> thank you. president newlin: nick xavier, eric -- we are calling more people to go after you. nick laguara. >> hello, everybody. i want to thank you personally for inviting this dialogue to happen. i also want to address your specific question about drug use and partying. i think a lot of the parties kind of conform people into a drug use situation. we need to have open, bigger parties, not gates around them. in san francisco, the free street parties are the best parties. a lot of times, electronic dance music festivals get caught upper and are closed -- caught up and are closed for the wrong reasons. it we have community-based promoters, looking and see

shaun casey is professor of christian ethics at wesley theological seminary. >> whether you act or whether you don't act, the stakes are really quite high. and that's what makes it so daunting from a moral perspective, trying to find the right way to know when to intervene and when not to because the consequences, the body counts are quite high. >> reporter: in the wake of the 1994 genocide in rwanda, the united nations hammered out a set of principles known as the "responsibility to protect." the principles say that nations must protect their population from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. and if a state doesn't live up to that responsibility, the international community has a responsibility to step in. the united states has endorsed those principles. >> i believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the balkans, or in the other places that have been scarred by war. inaction tears at ouconscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. >> according to casey, the principles draw heavily from the just war tradition, w

by fully funding the ethics committee. [applause] the new laws passed in the december special session will forever change how state government operates. the ethics commission now has more power and must be given the resources it needs to enforce the new laws. i would like to take this moment and this opportunity to recognize the members of the ethics commission and commend them for their work that they are doing. i would ask jim and the members of the commission to please stand. [applause] the people of alabama want their elected leaders to meet the strictest at the close standards. we intend to offer the resources to make sure that happens. that is why we will protect the office of the state auditor to make sure we wisely use the assets we own. there are hard decisions that must be made if we are to balance the general fund budget. while we are protecting these five areas i just mentioned, other areas will see deep cuts. aside from those protections, every agency in t state's general fund will be cut anywhere from 15% to

, and your mainline churches, and your jewish groups are saying, you know, we have a biblical and ethical, moral obligation to care for people who can't help themselves. on the other side, from the more conservative side, especially from the tea party, you have arguments saying that it's actually immoral to leaveebt to tureenerations. and they sometimes chafe at the notion of, you know, what would jesus cut? they say, well, jesus didn't have opinions on this. you know, that it's up to us to sort of make the decisions on what to cut. but you get various moral arguments from both sides and we're just waiting to see who wins the day. >> well, i was at the national religious broadcasters convention this week and one of their keynote speakers was house speaker, john boehner, catholic, who used a lot of biblical language in his speech. he had a very receptive, mostly evangelical audience, and he quoted scripture, he quoted from proverbs"a gd man leaves behind an inheritance to his children's children." and he said, republicans want to not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word, anot

recognize new groups in society as census run by lockheed martin raises grave concerns investing about ethics and international security if a lot of people boycott this that says it will make it ineffective and a waste of money with a two hundred forty million dollar contracts amounts will go into looking at martins pockets any way your estimates r.t. . it's time now for our other news making headlines around the world or at least one. killed and twenty injured when a passenger bus collided with a lumber truck in the southern brazilian state of santa caterina police reported the truck driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the bus which had forty seven passengers on board in two thousand and seventeen a similar accidents on the same road claimed twenty seven lives. a fire which tore through a bar in central taiwan has left nine dead and injured preliminary investigation suggests the blaze was caused by sparks from a lead torch being used in a performance several of the victims were found on a staircase between the first and second floors. a for nato has ripped through a town in s

recognize new groups in society this is run by lockheed martin raises grave concerns in britain about ethics and international security if a lot of people boycott this that says it will make it ineffective and a waste of money with a two hundred forty million dollar contract amounts will go into looking at martins pocket anyway you're an authority on that. stay with us as we continue reviewing the week's top stories i'll be back in a few moments with our headlines. a crime offering a free. that has become human and mobile is tolkien of creation of the beautiful system the global food system is not created to feed the people of the world is created to maximize the profits. gernot trading the. actual cash physical grain or trading promises for graeme to be delivered months for six months or twelve months or eighteen months in the future. for reasons moderate light silver or gold that can be negotiated and afforded to some degree in. some places. water. possibly it's not traded now but it could be in the future. which morning's today violence has once again flared up the flame these are the ima