The Pgh Ethics Hearing Board is a joke. That is just the way those in power want it, sadly.
And what are the punishments? Given the board's makeup, maybe a ruler on the wrist?
Now that I look back over it, is it a coincidence that the Board's only attorney (a recent Ravenstahl appointment from Buchanan Ingersoll) opted to quietly resign right as the media began to ask for documents and cry foul over sunshine laws?
If Penny Zacharias' (why does that surname sound familiar?) departure from the board was quiet, it resembled the way she and her handlers tried to handle her introduction to the ethics board.
Remember the hilarious account from Bob Mayo of Kate DiSimone (another young woman who appears to be making quite a name for herself in the amateur hour of city government) and Penny Zacharias running a bizarre obstacle course through the bowels of the City-County Building to avoid answering even the question "Why are you avoiding answering questions?" That this surreal episode occurred in connection with seeming innocuous occasion of Ms. Zacharias' introduction at a council meeting made it all the more curious.
The best part of that exchange might have been DiSimone indicating that she was escorting Ms. Zacharias to show her the location of the next ethics meeting, then telling a reporter 30 seconds later that she had no idea where that meeting would occur.
No wonder some of these people are eager to duck questions.
I hope some reporters continue to ask them, though. Sister Hughes seems to have a habit of generating questionable activity at the ethics board, so it seems there will be no lack of questions so long as she is aboard. The answers should be illuminating, and getting them could be fun times, too.
Well, she was expecting a child at the time. She may have resigned because she knew something or was implicated in something, or she may have resigned for legitimate personal reasons. Just sayin'.
Who do you go to when your Ethics Board breaks the Sunshine Act and operates in questionable ethical behavior? Anyone? Where is the DA? The Attorney General? The U.S. Attorney?
This doesn't change a thing, it just makes it so these thieves have to report what they are stealing. How much do you want to bet that the really good gifts go unreported. Who will ever know?
Someone needs to look at the rules in other cities. If the Ethic Board spent over a year studying the best policies from all over the country, they should be required to share them with the public. I assume we paid for their reports, lets see them.
Where do you go in these circumstances? You follow the common avenues.
If you have a spirit of adventure, you might go to Colorado or Washington or New York or North Carolina.
If are more restrained, you go to the suburbs.
An addenda to the ethics post:
First, it should be noted that what issued from the Ethics Board the other day might best be interpreted comments and suggestions -- not proposed legislation. The Board is mindful not to overstep its mandate as it interprets it.
Second, the suggestions thus far disseminated are based significantly on the research of our ethics consultant Carla Miller, with particular reference to a "model ethics code" from New Haven, CT. I'm told an annotated version of this code exists on the web. I can't yet locate it, but if anyone can provide a link that would be great.
http://cityethics.org/mc/introduction
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