You call that a “careful review”??? I know you folks handle 1,000 of these cases annually, but with a $1.5 million budget I would hope you could afford a calendar. Sure, both “subjects have filed appropriate disclosures” with the Town Clerk BUT they did it a WEEK LATE!
If you are going to absolve them of a conflict of interest (Mr. Kusner) or perceived conflict of interest (Ms. Brewer) based on a written disclosure, that’s fine. But if that is the SOLE reason, then you need to rethink things.
Because on the night of September 17 NEITHER of them complied--so anything they did THAT NIGHT concerning Umass should be rescinded.
The sweetheart effluent ($500,000-insider-giveaway) vote occurred on 9/17. I complained to your office on 9/20 and that complaint was widely circulated in the media. Mr. Kusner and Ms. Brewer filed their disclosure forms with the Town Clerk on 9/24. The numbers simply don’t add up.
Do over: your investigation and their 9/17 votes!
The problem with the State Ethics Commission decision is that they do not explain the analysis that brings them to the conclusion- there is no conflict real or perceived.
ReplyDeleteThis in spite of the facts you indicated, that neither party had declared their potential conflict at the time of the vote.
You are left to assume or guess what ethical principles govern the situation and you have no recourse to address any logical errors in their argument. People make errors. This closed process is at risk for error because it is a black box.
In the spirit of open government, I would expect the State Ethics Board to provide a thorough description of their analysis and the rationale for their determination, anything less is a dictate. Open government is antithetical to dictate.
Write the governor.
Too bad. Still, good job taking on the juggernaut of UMass. Time will tell all. It would be interesting to see what the Governor has to say about it though...
ReplyDeleteWell guys, the governor had Ethics problems of his own not too long ago so I'm not sure he would be much help.
ReplyDelete