‘NO REASONABLE CAUSE’
City Ethics Board dismisses complaints
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> The long awaited decisions are in on two complaints to the City’s Ethics Board that have hovered over the campaigns of multiple candidates for re-election to their positions on the Saratoga Springs City Council in November.
Signed with the “unanimous approval of the Board,” by Ethics Committee Chair Justin Hogan, the response to the first complaint submitted on June 6 by Ann Bullock, former member and secretary of the City Charter Review Commission and William McTygue, former Director of Public Works was dismissed with the final statement dated Aug. 9 declaring “The Board finds there is no reasonable cause for believing that the individuals named in your letter have violated any provision of the Code of Ethics.”
Members of the city of Saratoga Springs Board of Ethics include Hogan, Brendan Chudy, Kevin Kling, Marilyn Rivers and Ellen Venn.
The complaint had been directed toward Mayor Meg Kelly, Commissioner John Franck, Commissioner Michele Madigan, Commissioner Skip Scirocco, Saratoga County Independence Chair Eddy Miller and Joanne Foresta, who serves as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners for the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority, as well as having been
an energy consultant with Energy Next, Inc..
It concerned, as stated in the Ethics Board decision letter attached, “the activities of a member of the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority as well as those of a city employee who is chairman of a local political party,” referring to Miller and Foresta.
At the time the complaint was filed, McTygue saw Miller’s position as chair of the Saratoga County Independence Party coupled with his employment with the Saratoga Springs Department of Public Works and his connection to Forresta as an energy procurement broker a possible conflict of interest, as well an alleged violation of City ethics code.
McTygue suggested Miller “has been playing fast and loose with the City’s ethics code, and the New York State Municipal Law. Unfortunately, the City Council has been going along with this obvious conflict of interest in direct violation of the City’s ethics codes.
McTygue made the following statement in June:
“In his capacity as the head of the Independence Party, Edward Miller has endorsed the four members of the City Council, guaranteeing them a line on the November Election ballot and, as indicated by financial records with the State Board of Elections, he has also recently issued checks and made substantial donations to their campaigns.
“All this for what appears to be, in exchange for a lucrative energy contract with the City that will pay substantial profits in the form of commissions paid to Miller and his partner, JoAnne Foresta. This has all the appearances of a pay-to-play scheme that warrants further investigation.”
An Ethics Board Meeting was called on June 24, the day before the primary election that determined who would become the candidate endorsed by the City’s Democratic party. Patty Morrison won that endorsement narrowly by 32 votes at 765 to Madigan’s 733. Madigan continues in the race endorsed by the Saratoga Springs Independence and Working Families parties.
(The letter addressing the findings of the City of Saratoga Springs Ethics Board with regard to the complaint filed by Ann Bullock and William McTygue is attached to this article online).
••• The second ethics complaint filed was by Morrison against Madigan on June 14, as a letter directly to Madigan.
The Board’s decision to Morrison dated July 16, only becoming available to the public on Monday, found Morrison’s complaint that Madigan had improperly received direct campaign contributions by proponents of rezoning projects currently before the City Council unfounded, stating that:
“Since the Ethics Code expressly excludes campaign contributions from the definition of “gift”, the Board finds that the receipt of a campaign contribution by a city elected official under the circumstances you describe does not constitute a violation of the gift provisions in the code.”
(That letter of decision is also attached to this article).
••• In Morrison’s letter to Madigan that went before the Ethics Board, she made the following challenges:
“As you prepare for a City Council vote to align the City’s zoning ordinance with the comprehensive plan, I wish to call to the public’s attention your recent campaign fundraising actions that are in direct conflict with your seat at the City Council table as it pertains to this matter.
“On behalf of all Saratoga citizens and in accordance with the City’s Code of Ethics, I’m asking you to recuse yourself from participation and voting on the hospital re-zoning issue and to make this known prior to June 25, 2019.
“Your participation in a political fundraiser for your Commissioner of Finance campaign hosted by Saratoga Hospital attorney, Matt Jones at his home on March 8, 2019 along with his personal donation of $1,000, is a direct conflict of interest and can be viewed as a clear violation of the City’s Code of Ethics. How, now can you honestly claim to be objective as it pertains to this critical matter before the Planning Board and before the Council?
“Whatever the merits of the hospital’s proposal are, it is now seriously tainted by your actions. And regardless if municipal laws were violated, the public should not be asked to simply trust the players involved here. As an elected official it is incumbent on yo tó never give the impression or appearance of a conflict of interest and impropriety should always be avoided.
“The integrity of Saratoga Springs land use decisionmaking should not be compromised by political gifts or the need to raise money for your political campaign. People of our community want corporate and development money out of our political process and government decision making.
“Prior to the June 25, 2019 Democratic primary election, it is incumbent on you to announce your intentions to recuse. I also call upon the City Council to censure
the Commissioner of Finance from any further deliberations relating to the hospital rezoning and project proposal.
“Additionally, by copy of this letter, I ask the City’s Ethics Board to make a determination of fact as it relates to this issue. I strongly recommend that advice and legal counsel pertaining to this issue should be sought from the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics.”
••• On Tuesday afternoon, Morrison issued the following response to the ruling:
“Am I to understand that Commissioner Madigan is celebrating a determination that rests on a technicality? City Council members should hold themselves to a higher standard and this shows us why voters want change from the status quo.
“The Code of Ethics needs to be strengthened so we don’t accept political contributions from contributors with business before the council. Everyone knows the campaign finance system is broken and this is just one more piece of evidence. There is a lot of money being invested in Saratoga Springs right now, and that’s a good problem to have.
“We Saratoga Springs residents know we need to take the money out of politics.”
In a combined statement provided by McTygue via email, Bullock and McTygue also responded:
“The City Ethics Commission chair has responded to our complaint about a possible failure to disclose a conflict of interest by city employee and Independence Party chair (Eddy) Miller concerning a lucrative energy brokering deal handed to Miller’s outside business by the City Council.
“Unfortunately, this decision by the City’s Ethics Board is dictated by the politics of City Hall generally, and the lack of credibility of the City Attorney specifically. Therefore, based on further information we have uncovered in the development of this complaint, and because the City Attorney had already predetermined the outcome of our complaint, by his June 18 letter, we have forwarded this issue to the New York State Attorney General for further investigation and action. “In short: 1) We disagree strongly with the Ethics Board’s determination.
2) This issue is mired in the politics and prejudice of City Hall. Accordingly, the Ethics decision seems to have been pre-determined by the City Attorney in his letter of June 18, 2019, prior to the Ethics Commission even meeting to hear the complaint, evidenced by the fact the Ethics Board first met on this matter on June 24, 2019.
3) Additionally, we have obtained further evidence of the City’s mishandling of this matter since our original complaint was filed, including the agreement between the City and Energy Now Consultants, which the City Attorney (acting as Records Access Officer) said did not exist in his response to our FOIL request of June 8, 2019.
4) We have forwarded this complaint to the New York State Attorney General’s Public Integrity Bureau with a request that they determine whether the city has misinterpreted and violated State law.”
••• Madigan and Kelly, meanwhile, lauded the rulings.
In a press release on Monday, Madigan called attention to the two recent decisions in what she considers “baseless inquiries from candidate Patty Morrison and her close personal friends and campaign supporters Bill McTygue and Ann Bullock.”
“The Ethics Board made it clear that the issues raised by my challenger and two of her staunchest supporters were groundless,” Madigan said. “This was nothing more than a coordinated attempt to plant a false narrative in voters’ minds right before a hotly contested primary election. Using our Ethics Board as a weapon in furtherance of a political campaign is unprincipled and is not in the best interests of the public we serve.”
“The public has a right to expect a candidate for public office to know that it is legal for elected officials to accept campaign contributions,” Madigan added, “Morrison’s complaint sought not only to impugn my ethics and integrity, but to also damage the reputation of a highly respected community member with a long record of supporting local, state, and national campaigns from across the political spectrum.
“The accompanying complaint from McTygue and Bullock, accused the City Council of corruption as regards to the energy purchase contract, requested that the contract be rescinded, and called for disciplinary action and/or dismissal of a city employee. This was also roundly rejected. The Ethics Board stated “there is no reasonable cause for believing that the individuals named in your letter have violated any provision of the Code of Ethics.”
“Character and competence matter. Ms. Morrison has avoided open and honest debate about how Saratoga Springs is governed, and this kind of misinformed, ‘win at all costs’ approach is a strong indicator of what her governing tactics will be,” Madigan concluded.
Kelly offered her response to the filed complaints.
“This is politics at its worst, using totally unsupported allegations to persuade voters in a wholly improper manner. Ms. Morrison, Mr. McTygue, Ms. Bullock and the public need to know that our system works despite and without such irresponsible theatrics.”