Dealing with Conflicts of Interest

by Karl Kurtz

There was a good AP story this past weekend about conflicts of interest inherent in the role of a citizen lawmaker.  The story has interesting anecdotes from Idaho, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Washington.  It quotes Peggy Kerns, director of NCSL's Center for Ethics in Government. Unfortunately, though, it doesn't provide links to the web page that the Center has created on conflict of interest, especially the page entitled "To Vote or Not to Vote: Balancing Personal and Public Interests in the Legislature."   This page contains a good explanation of the issue and links to 50-state charts on conflict of interest provisions.