$2G conflict fine vs. PBA boss’ bro
The brother of powerful police union boss Patrick Lynch was fined $2,000 earlier this year for a conflict of interest while serving on a Harlem community board.
The Conflicts of Interest Board hit John Lynch with the fine, which has not been previously reported, for sending two letters to the State Liquor Authority on behalf of a restaurant he was representing as an attorney seeking approval of a liquor license from the Community Board 10 committee he headed.
“In sending the two letters, the committee chair took official actions that benefited his client and used a city resource — CB 10 letterhead — to do so. The city’s conflicts of interest law prohibits public servants from using their positions or taking official actions to benefit their associates, which includes legal clients,” the Conflicts of Interest Board wrote.
“[Lynch] is an attorney who should be held to a particularly high level of accountability for compliance with the conflicts of interest law and had served on a community board for five years at the time of his violations.”
Lynch, who was chairman of Community Board 10’s Economic Development Committee, said he’d made an honest mistake when sending the letters on behalf of the restaurant, Renaissance Harlem.
“It absolutely was not intentional,” he said. “It wasn’t even a conflict of interest. It was misuse of community board letterhead.”
Community board support of new restaurants is often critical to the business receiving a liquor license from the state.
Conflicts of Interest Board documents show that Renaissance Harlem had won unanimous approval of its liquor license application from the committee in January 2017. But its subsequent application to the State Liquor Authority was rejected — so the restaurant hired Lynch as an attorney the following day
Lynch then sent the two letters on community board letterhead. The State Liquor Authority granted the restaurant’s application in November 2017.
The Conflicts of Interest Board, when determining the fine, noted that the committee had already voted in support of the restaurant’s application prior to Lynch being hired.
“The restaurant got the same treatment as any other restaurant,” Lynch said.
Lynch resigned as chairman of the committee after the finding.
“It was not the community board’s mandate or obligation to decide innocence, guilt or intent,” Community Board 10 head Cicely Harris said.
“This instance gave us another opportunity to review our processes and do what we can to correct any gaps and provide greater clarity.”