City ethics board fines Harris over campaign violations
The city ethics board has fined Councilwoman Darlene Harris more than $4,000 for failing to file required financial reports before the 2019 primary election.
In documents filed Friday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, the board concluded that Ms. Harris violated the city’s ethics code and levied a fine of $4,150 with interest at a rate of 6% per day.
“Candidates for city office and their committees are required to file certain periodic financial reports with the board,” the documents said. “Councilwoman Harris and her committee did not file such reports prior to the 2019 primary election.”
Ms. Harris, who served on City Council for 12 years, lost to Bobby Wilson, 36, of Spring Hill, in May’s primary election.
The ethics board said it gave Ms. Harris multiple chances to remedy the issue and held a hearing in May in which she was represented by an attorney but did not attend.
“There has been no dispute that the campaign finance reports, reports which illuminate the influences of our elected officials, have not been filed despite the repeated attempts to assist with achieving compliance made by the staff of the City’s Ethics Office,” Leanne Davis, executive manager and ethics officer for the ethics board, said in an email.
The case will be assigned to a judge who may confirm the board’s order and enter a judgment that could be used to collect the assessed penalty. Ms. Harris will have the right to appeal within 30 days.
Jim Burn, Ms. Harris’ attorney, called the fine “unenforceable” and said the process is illegal because state law pre-empts the city ordinance.
“We truly believe this is blatant overreaching,” he said.
Mr. Burn said that if other municipalities in the state enacted legislation similar to the city ordinance, it would “muck up” the political process and discourage people from running for office.
Ms. Harris has previously defied regulations passed by City Council in 2015 that require candidates to file campaign finance reports.