New York Gov. David Paterson's recent announcement that he would not seek re-election followed allegations that the governor's office may have tried to interfere with a domestic violence case. Yet New York isn't the only state where ethics is making the news.

* In North Carolina, the state commission that regulates alcoholic beverage sales may draft a voluntary ethics code in the wake of stories that raised ethics concerns. According to one newspaper, Gov. Beverly Perdue is pushing the state commission to ban gifts that "might be perceived as swaying booze buying decisions."

* In Utah, legislative leaders have pushed their own ethics bills in hopes of heading off the momentum for ballot initiatives that citizens groups are proposing as ethics reform. In this op-ed column, a business leader cites the state House Majority Leader's recent statement dissing citizen-led reform as proof why an initiative is needed: "Could there be a more resounding endorsement for putting this initiative on the ballot and letting the people of Utah weigh in on this important matter?"

* In Connecticut, a former state prosecutor has agreed to pay a $2,000 fine to settle a complaint brought by the state's ethics office. The state panel stated that L. Mark Hurley violated ethics rules by "using his access to funds paid by . . . defendants for his own personal use."

* In Florida, a Tea Party activist has filed an ethics complaint against a state legislator concerning travel expenses and campaign finance rules.

One of Florida's largest newspapers welcomes the state legislature's pursuit of ethics reform. In this recent editorial, the Sun Sentinel offers lawmakers some advice:

... the Legislature would be smart to improve the U.S. "honest services" law with a detailed Florida version rather than to copy the federal one. The federal law has served anti-corruption efforts well, but it appears headed for possible undoing by the U.S. Supreme Court for constitutionality concerns.

The newspaper says the legislature should be more than capable of writing a new ethics law that is specific enough to survive any constitutional or other legal challenges:

If the state can delineate a whole book of driving statutes that dictate everything from when to use your headlights to where to park your car, surely it can specify what warrants a range of criminal behavior for public officials, from voting on issues where there's a personal financial stake to accepting bags stuffed with cash in exchange for a vote.

In fact, those are such no-brainer acts of criminal conduct, it's almost laughable that they're not already outlawed by state statute, and it says something about a neglectful Legislature that they're not.

Just a couple days ago, the executive editor of the Miami Herald wrote this eloquent column about the corruption scandals that have plagued South Florida's local governments. Here is an excerpt from Anders Gyllenhaal's column:

... we should all be taken aback by the wave of public corruption that has broken over us. From school board members to city commissioners, the recent rash of suspected and admitted officials going wrong leaves South Florida second only to Washington, D.C., in this pathetic ranking.

It's a distinction that raises hard questions about the governments we've created and the communities we're building. For the past month, Miami Herald reporter John Dorschner has been looking for answers as part of a special report that starts on today's front page.

... John found that particularly in Broward County, governments are following practices that clearly promote self-dealing.

"Lobbyists run the campaigns, and they get people elected, and then -- boom -- they're right back in front of these same officials asking for contracts for their biggest clients," said John. "These relationships are uncommonly close."

There's plenty of blame to go around. Some prosecutors aren't as aggressive as they should be; the watchdog roles of the media and activists are not as strong as they once were; and the public isn't paying the attention -- or showing up to vote in sufficient numbers, in many instances -- to promote healthy government.

Last month, New York Times reporter Nick Confessore wrote about the strange connection between acts of political corruption and the game of golf. Recent days have produced another example — bribery charges have been filed against two South Florida developers for paying the golf fees of a county commissioner. That commissioner pleaded guilty last week to federal corruption charges.

Overall, 2009 has been a banner year for corruption in South Florida. To his credit, Sun-Sentinel blogger Michael Mayo has been writing about it a lot and urging the public to do more than complain. Mayo urged local residents to attend a meeting of the Broward County County Ethics Commission:

Don't just go and gripe how everyone is a crook and everyone is on the take.

Offer some concrete steps you'd like to see written into the draft of the new ethics rules that will be sent to the county commission in March.

Mayo is right. In every state, changing the culture of corruption will require citizens to do more than complaining over their morning coffee.

What's the state of ethics among public officials in Florida? From all angles, pretty lousy. The state’s supreme court just approved the governor’s extraordinary decision to establish a "statewide grand jury" that will probe alleged acts of corruption by state and local officials.

According to SunshineReview.org:

The grand jury would be created in order to respond to two felt needs in Florida; outing corrupted public officials and toughening the corruption laws. The jury would have the authority to indict any public officials who are suspected of corruption and to recommend changes to the current corruption laws.

Over the course of this year, a number of scandals in the Sunshine State have helped to set the stage for this statewide grand jury. For example:

* The arrest of a school board member on federal corruption charges

* An FBI probe that led to charges against county officials for allegedly rigging contacts

* A Time magazine headline that declared Palm Beach "the new capital of Florida corruption"

* A Miami commissioner who was charged with misusing a $50,000 grant

And that's just a sample. Let's hope this grand jury exposes the scope of corruption in Florida and leads to prosecutions that hold officials accountable for violating the public trust.

There has been a wave of high level public corruption scandals over the past few months.  Now, it's Florida.  The new Speaker of the House, Ray Sansom, will soon be the former Speaker of the House.  Ethics questions already forced him to step down, but his colleagues are taking it a step further and replacing him:

If it goes as planned, tonight will complete a swift and intense fall for Sansom, 46, who spent years working toward one of the most powerful political offices in Florida only to watch it crumble.

Just days ago he was pledging to hold on and fight allegations that his six-figure job at Northwest Florida State College was a reward for millions in construction money and other favors he got for the school before taking an unadvertised $110,000 job there in November — on the same day he was sworn in as speaker.

Among the questions raised in a series of articles by the St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau is whether $6 million Sansom secured in 2007 was for an airport project that would benefit a friend and major GOP donor, Jay Odom.

Sansom has denied any wrongdoing but as questions increased and legal and ethical investigations began, pressure mounted on him to do something.

So on Friday, the Destin Republican recused himself of speaker duties, citing the legal and ethical inquiries, which include a grand jury, and delegated duties to Cretul.

But the unprecedented move gave way to immediate questions about whether Sansom could do such a thing, at least over a long period of time.

By Saturday, top House Republicans were wondering themselves and trying to tamp down a behind-the-scenes scramble for power.

Rules Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, concluded Sunday that Sansom would have to step down, "in the abundance of caution and in order to ensure certainty and avoid further ambiguity."

Roll Call (via CREW's website) reports that Christine Jennings did file a compaint with the House over the results of her election.  She lost by under 400 votes in a race that was marred by a disproportionate undervote in Sarasota County:

The campaign of Christine Jennings, the Democratic nominee in Florida's disputed 13th district election, formally filed a complaint with the House on Thursday alleging “pervasive malfunctioning of electronic voting machines,” leading to an “undervote” of roughly 18,000 votes.

“The voting system in place in Sarasota clearly failed the voters of that district, and has triggered a national crisis in voter confidence,” Jennings campaign lawyer Kendall Coffey said in a statement. “Ultimately, the U.S. House is responsible for the type of legislative investigations and safeguards that will ensure a situation like we saw in Sarasota never happens again.”

Yesterday, Citizens Blogging reported on the new Colorado ethics law passed in November by the voters of that state. Looks like the voters may get to implement ethics reform in Orange County, Florida. The sponsor of the reform provisions can't get support from her colleagues, so she's going to take the issue to the voters:

Orange County commissioners had a chance to restore some confidence in politicians this week -- and decided to take a pass.

Commissioner Teresa Jacobs' motion to toughen up the ethical guidelines for elected officials died when she couldn't get a single other person to second her motion.

But I'm not terribly worried about that. And neither should other fans of good government. Because Central Florida's politicians can either get on board the ethics train -- or get run over by it.

That's because Jacobs says that if she can't get Rich Crotty and her fellow board members to toughen up ethics laws, she'll take the matter to the voters in the form of a ballot question. And take a wild guess how residents will vote when essentially asked: Should politicians be more honest and accountable?

I'd like to see the county commissioner who campaigns against that.

Like elected officials in Orange County, Congress hasn't wanted to police itself by tightening ethics laws. We saw how the voters felt about ethics and corruption in the last election. It was a very important issue for three out of four voters according to AP's exit polls. We'd like to think that the voters already decided this issue on November 7th. But, we'll know next month if Congress got the message. Orange County's commissioners may just find out for themselves how voters feel about their ethics.