Media Mentions

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) and distributed across multiple markets, including Barron's, Japan Times, Yahoo News, and others.

Experts warn that the partnership between prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi and prominent news organizations to report on information from the betting markets and the election predictions and projections they spur, could result in confusion and misinformation.

"Elections are not games," Davina Hurt, director, government ethics told AFP. "My concern is that we've reached a point where financial market expectations carry more weight in the public's mind than the votes themselves."

A high probability "is not a promise," Hurt said. "When the prediction fails, that's not evidence that elections fail. But people are going to read that in."

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) and distributed across multiple markets, including Barron's, Japan Times, Yahoo News, and others.

Testimony describes plans for clandestine 2019 meeting between co-defendants in ex-mayor’s corruption trial, in which Thao has been accused of sharing information from the Council's closed session meetings, which would violate state laws about what types of information can be shared from such meetings.

Closed sessions are “supposed to be a private space where councilmembers can have frank discussions about what’s before them,” said Davina Hurt, director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. “Anytime someone discloses what happens, it jeopardizes the case, it weakens the position of the city and it costs taxpayers.”

Davina Hurt, director of government ethics, quoted by The Mercury News.

Increased ICE raids have rattled Central California residents impacting both school attendance and worker participation. Bishop Joseph V. Brennan, from the diocese of Fresno pushed back against the raids.

William O’Neill S.J., director of immigration ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics argued that the Church has never advocated for open borders.

“I’d say that’s a primary misunderstanding,” O’Neill said. “The recognition that the state, by its very nature, has a right to control its borders has always been a part of Catholic social teaching.”

O’Neill noted that the church strives to find a middle ground, “to have a safe and legal pathway [to stay] in accordance with international law.”

Fr. Bill O'Neill, director of immigration ethics, quoted by the Los Angeles Times.

Many U.S. states have laws that prohibit wagering on elections, but most consider it a misdemeanor. In two states, Nebraska and Illinois, election betting can be prosecuted as a felony. Despite the legal risks, people have spent more than $3.1 million, on sites like Kalshi and Polymarket betting on the Nebraska Senate race alone.

Interim Executive Director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Ann Skeet, warns that an expansion of gambling or trading into elections will cause harm with the possibility of insider trading.

Prediction markets “erode the common good,” Skeet said.

“Trust is actually kind of an intangible common good, and our trust in our election processes and our elected officials is one example of something that serves the community as a whole,” she said.

Ann Skeet, interim executive director, quoted by Nebraska Public Media.

The Detroit News reports, a public health network in Detroit that federal prosecutors said was swindled out of at least $18.8 million is overseen by a politically connected board dominated by members with public records showing financial problems, bankruptcy and convictions for drug and alcohol-related crimes.

Davina Hurt, director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics said her experience has shown that due diligence into the personal finances and criminal background of board appointees is "skin deep."

"Due diligence is important, she added. "The standard should not be a spotless past but that they demonstrated the ability to fulfill the responsibilities of oversight and assess conflicts and review documents."

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by The Detroit News (paywall), and republished by other markets, including Belleville News-Democrat.

Opening statements began last week in federal court in Oakland for the corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, her partner Andre Jones, and recycling executives David and Andy Duong. KQED Forum's Alexis Madrigal discusses the alleged scheme and how the case is unfolding and what to expect from the trial.

Alexis Madrigal: Based on what you have heard, let’s imagine that these allegations of what happened are correct. How out of the ordinary do you think this sort of arrangement would have been?

Davina Hurt: Out of the ordinary? Not really. This is somewhat an issue of political access, which is pretty routine. But the ethical question that this turns on, about being independent, fair, and explainable, is where there’s a lot of concern.

And I think you’ll hear a lot of reaction from the community. These cases, they’re not unprecedented. And, in fact, relationships are what get you elected, but it’s how far those relationships go. Whether it’s recycling or it’s a local business down the street, once you take that oath of office, there’s a real need to have safeguards and separate the duties of them helping you get elected from being accountable to the public at large.

 

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, interviewed by KQED Forum. The episode can also be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms by searching "KQED Forum."

Anthropic followed through on its promise to pick a third-party auditor. It’s an organization it knows very well.

"Conflicts of interest aren’t only about money," says Brian Patrick Green, Ethics Center's director of technology ethics.

"In a world where starting your own business at home is more regulated than AI, some oversight is better than none," Green said, and suggested companies may need an oversight board made up of several independently funded organizations, with limits on how people move between the labs and the evaluators.

“Maybe you even need to have not just third-party evaluators,” Green said, “but somebody who’s also going to be watching the watchers.”

Brian Green, director, technology ethics, quoted by The San Francisco Standard.

Documents reviewed by Reuters show that Konstantin Sokolov, chosen by President Trump to lead a $201 million investment fund in the Caucasus, holds major telecom and mining interests in the region and formerly ran a Russia-focused investment firm with claimed ties to the Kremlin.

The position would be a conflict of interest because his role would give him control of government money that could potentially benefit his companies.

Ann Skeet, interim executive director at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics cautions, "I think Congress should be asking questions."

Ann Skeet, interim executive director, quoted by Reuters, and republished by The Miami Herald and other outlets.