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Instructor: Outside of class, I am best reached by e-mail. Other
methods are slower and less certain. I rarely check voice mail, for example,
but my extension is 4226. Leaving a message with Cheryl Dake, South Hall
Faculty Secretary at ext 4283, is probably the most reliable alternative
to e-mail.
Class Meetings: At various times & places, see below
Texts for Whole Class: Photocopy Material
Grades: Take-home Exam (30%), Paper (25%), Interview Log (15%),
Class Assignment/Discussion (15%), Participation (15%) For details, see
below.
Synopsis:
- Public Integrity in Metro Government
- Supreme Court and Public Ethics
- Social Ecology of Metro Systems
- Miami-Dade Metro Area and its Future
- Public ethics and the effort to Guard against Corruption in metro
Miami
- New Mayor seeks a New Structure
- Miami-Dade (MD) County Commission
- MD Ethics Commission, Lobbying, & related organizations
- Regional Planning Framework & MD Transportation Develpment
- Airport
- Surface Rail & Road
Assignments:
Week I-II
2/28--Monday: 9 am Review of Course Outline, Trip Planning, Info Lit.
Ass. for Tia, Evan, & Jamie
3/1--Tuesday: 1:30 pm in South Hall 302. Robert Roberts, "The Supreme
Court and the Law of Public Service Ethics."
3/2--Wednesday: 1:30, SH 302. Neal Pierce Citistates (Photocopied
Selections) "South Florida: Four Scenarios for
the Region's Future," Collins Center
3/8--Tuesday: 1:30, SH 302 "Citistates Report"
3/9:--Wednesday: 1:30, SH 302 Group I--Corruption High & Low: From
Federal Cases & RICO to Corruption 101
3/10--Thursday: 1:30, SH 302 Group II: Miami-Dade Board of County
Commissioners: reality meets aspirations
3/11--Friday: 9am: SH 302: Group III: New Mayor, New Charter, and the
Reform of Ethics. Take Home Exam distributed
3/14--Monday: Take-home Exam to be done by 7pm
STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR SUPREME COURT & the LAW
OF PUBLIC SERICE ETHICS
- What are three summary reasons supporting the argument that the Supreme
Court has adopted an "individual responsibility model of official conduct?"
- What concerns have critics of the model expressed? How does such a
model differ from the alternative model based on an "absolute immunity
doctrine?"
- Why is the Bivens case important?
- What did the Court hold in Smith v. Wade (1983) and what burden
of proof did it impose in later cases on plantiffs in constitutional
tort cases?
- What rule is proposed by the Circuit Court in the Crawford
case to reduce the burden of litigation on public servants and how did
the Supreme Court respond?
- What are "regulatory ethics" and what price is required for their
adoption and expansion?
- What are "anticipatory public integrity restraints" and what important
support did the Court provide for them in the case involving Adolphe
Wenzel?
- How is such support continued in Buckley v. Valeo and Crandon
v. U.S. but limited somewhat in U.S. v. Nat. Treasury Union Employees?
- What impact has the "personal responsibility model" had on expanding
the authority for administrative investigations? Illustrate with reference
to LaChance v. Erickson?"
- How has the Court expanded the application of the Hobbes Act, except
for a requirement stipulated in McCormick v. U.S. as modified
by the Evans Case?
- What is the "intangible rights doctrine" and how is it advanced by
Salinas v U.S.?
INTRO TO METRO
- After reviewing the opening chapter of Citistates by Neal Pierce
(Cole# 307.76 P356c), explain the importance of these centers for any
nation, but especially this one. How has the premise of "citistates"
been confirmed by experience in locations outside of southern Florida?
What is "anti-urbanism" and how is it linked to a distressed
social fabric? What kind of organizations have begun to reverse the
trend? What is an "edge city," what problems are associated
with it, and how can they be most effectively addressed?
- What alternative views of the future does the Collin
Center Report of 2001 propose? What are the two main "drivers
of change?" Compare the events associated with each scenario for
the overlapping period 2003-2004 and not the most significant differences.
How important are housing patterns and transportation infrastructure
in determining the future? Be specific about the range of current conditions
and future prospects?
- After reviewing the documents by Pierce and Johnson
that form the Citistates
Report, explain the regional challenge of air space management and
airport systems. Why is Miami Beach important in the larger picture
of regional development? To what challenge does "Eastward Ho!"
speak and how is it related to downtown
redevelopment? What is the "scourge of South Florida"
and what culprits have been identified? What solutions are available?
- For a recent update, locate by LexisNexis the article by William Yardley
in the Miami Hearld, posted Dec. 7, 2007, on the "regionalists"
and entitled "Group's vision: Think regional." What challenges
have the group faced?
- Description
including organization table at the end of the section on County Government.
Questions to be answered by the time you return to campus. a) Why is
the top line in the organiation table dotted at one end? b) To what
extent are the Mayor and BCC equals, at least in theory? What about
in practice? c) How is the MIA governed under the current table? c)
Where would MIA go in the table under proposals for an airport authority?
d) What impact would such a change have on Metro government?
- Metro
Mayor and County Manager:
a) who is the mayor, what is his background in Metro government, what
are his aspirations? b)what policies are highlighted in his annual Metro
message this year and what does he offer on airport governance?
c) to whom is the county manager accountable, when, and how, d) who
was the previous manager and how did he differ from the current one,
e) what issues are emphasized on his web pages.
- Board of County
Commissioners (BCC) Review the BCC home page and the description
page above. How many commissioners are they, how are they elected, for
how long, and at what intervals? How important is the BCC
Chairperson, who holds the office (for the person currently exercising
its powers, use LexisNexis to see the Miami Herald's article by Karl
Ross, Feb. 27, 2004), what are its main powers, esp. those
unshared with any other commissioner. What
stand on an airport
authority has the chairperson taken?
- Main Public Bodies excising oversight functions for Miami-Dade Government:
Commission
on Ethics and Public Trust: who are the commissioners, what does
it mainly do (and not do) and how does it do it? What does the recent
report by Robert Meyers, its Executive Director, reveal about what
corruption is, where the push for progress in public integrity at the
county level came from, what legislative measures resulted in "structures"
created, in reforms to election campaign practices and to procurement
and contracting, and in the regulation of lobbying and lobbyists? How
does the report characterize past enforcement at the federal and state
level and what expectations does it support about the future? Why? How
are they re-enforced by private initiatives (What, for example, is CityEthics,
how does the Miami
Chamber of Commerce and the University
of Miami help? What recommendations support these expectations?
How does the conclusion attempt to balance these expectations? What
doubts and criticism lie in the background? What does the Miami-Dade
Inspector General
do and how does it
differ from the Ethics Commission? Why is it so much easier to demonstrate
the achievements of OIG than the Ethics Commission? Be able to explain
some of these recent achievements (see esp. the
conviction of Monzon-Aguirre). What features distinguish the "trusts?"
See for example the PHT (Public
Health Trust), and the Children's
Trust? What conflict of interest problems do these bodies have?
(see Watchdog
Report, 4th article in recent columns list)?
- NOTE: By exploring the following links:SFRPC,
MPO, PTP
CITT,
MD P&Z, SFRTA,
PTAC, MIC,
be able to explain the origin, purpose, governance, differing responsibilities,
and most notable initiatives of each of the organizations supported
by the above sites.
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