Ethics training materials for incoming legislators

ByJohn Christie Naomi Schalit

December 13, 2012

Take a look at some of the training materials shared with state lawmakers.

The Maine State House in Augusta.

The National Conference of State Legislatures is one of our favorite organizations because — even though it’s set up to be a resource for legislators — it’s also a great repository of information for reporters who cover state government. When we want to see how Maine compares, say, to other states in laws on raw milk sales, the NCSL has a section on just that. And, of course, on many other things.

Last week, when newly elected lawmakers came to the statehouse in Augusta for orientation and swearing-in, one of the events organized for them was a seminar on ethics, taught by Natalie Wood, an NCSL ethics specialist.

We thought you’d be interested in the ethics materials Wood distributed to the lawmakers. Here are links to them:

Sorting Right from Wrong (published in NCSL’s State Legislatures magazine, February 2011)

Advice to Avoid Ethical Pitfalls (published in State Legislatures, December 2007)

Blog, Tweet and Post: Proceed with Caution (published in State Legislatures October/November 2011)

John Christie

John Christie is the co-founder, former publisher and former senior reporter of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. He has covered local, state and national politics as a reporter, editor and publisher at newspapers in Maine, Massachusetts and Florida and holds a BA in political science from the University of New Hampshire.