By Dustin Gardiner | The Arizona Republic
Three months after a group of legal experts raised red flags about Phoenix’s ethics rules, the city council voted Tuesday to move forward with reforms aimed at strengthening the policies.
The council accepted the bulk of the changes recommended by the Phoenix Ethics Review Task Force, a group of mostly attorneys and judges who spent months reviewing the rules. Task-force members found that rules for elected officials significantly lagged the best practices of large U.S. cities.
Topping the task force’s list of concerns was Phoenix’s lack of a legal mechanism to investigate or sanction the mayor or council members who violate its conflict-of-interest or gift policies.
On Tuesday, council members agreed there needs to be a process to handle complaints against them. They approved the creation of an independent commission, which would screen allegations and recommend a penalty, including censure or removal from office.
