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What Ethical Leadership, Good Governance, and Public Trust Look Like In Daily Best Practice A City of Trust is not built through slogans, branding, or occasional reforms. It is built when ethical leadership, good governance, and public trust are woven into the daily operations, expectations, systems, and culture of City government. In a City of … Read more

What $10 Million in 49ers Political Spending Has Bought in Santa Clara Across three election cycles, independent expenditure committees funded by the team have spent $10 million to elect the Council that now decides every dispute between the team and the city. We look closely at one race in 2022 to understand what money buys … Read more

Ethics 101 are articles to become more familiar with ethics language, concepts, and processes. Rights and Duties: The Two Sides of Ethics Most ethical questions, when you trace them back, come down to two ideas: rights and duties. They are the basic vocabulary of how people owe things to each other and what they can … Read more

The City’s research showed that public trust in Santa Clara was strongest when five other public perceptions were also at their highest levels. What Ethical Leadership, Good Governance, and Public Trust Look Like in Daily Practice IA City of Trust is built when ethical leadership, good governance, meaningful public engagement, and public trust are woven … Read more

The Moment for Restoration of Trust  The forthcoming revision of Santa Clara’s City Charter offers a real opportunity to restore public trust in local governance. But there is one glaring omission: the Santa Clara Stadium Authority. When I asked whether the Authority would be included in the Charter review sub-committees, the City Attorney responded that … Read more

What “Public Ethics” Actually Means Originally written for the Leadership Santa Clara program in 2020, and reproduced here as the foundational statement of what public ethics means and why it matters to a city. If you want to expand your understanding of thinking and acting ethically, this is a good place to start. Ethics is … Read more

Public Trust Now looks at City decisions through the lenses of ethics and public trust. In this post, we want to show you what we see when we ask: Applied to the proposed replacement Ethics Code, these questions lead to clear concerns. What the City Has Done: The Facts On July 11, 2023, the City … Read more