Timely article with much food for thought, as this is something which is an inter-Commissioner hot button topic in 2006 in Lower Merion. What defines a conflict? Read about a neighboring Montgomery County Borough:
Ethics law chafes borough
By Jeff Shields Inquirer Staff Writer
Excerpt:
"For 20 years, J. Brian O'Neill has been redeveloping Conshohocken, filling the Schuylkill waterfront with apartments and offices. And for 20 years, Borough Councilman Vincent Totaro has been feeding him.
With a buy-local philosophy and a taste for Italian, O'Neill orders lunch from Totaro's Trattoria restaurant almost every day. But that economic philosophy and culinary preference may mean O'Neill will lose his most ardent supporter in local government.
State ethics law prohibits elected officials from voting on measures that benefit anyone they or their immediate family do business with - interpreted by the Ethics Commission as involving at least $300 a year.
Borough Solicitor Sean Kilkenny told council members last week that they needed to follow that rule. It means Totaro would have to abandon his key role in the borough's most crucial public-policy debate - the completion of O'Neill's $600 million Millennium waterfront development.
Totaro and O'Neill are not happy. To some people doing business in Conshohocken, complaints about the conflicts are like complaining about life in Conshohocken itself.....
"This is tantamount to communism," O'Neill said. "For 300 bucks - that means I can't eat dinner?"
Totaro is the council's point man for waterfront revitalization, negotiating with O'Neill over public river access for the Millennium housing and office project......O'Neill is one of the region's most prolific redevelopers of old industrial properties...While the law seems to be clear, it's hard to avoid conflicts in small towns governed by local business and trades people, said Shelley Houk, director of research at the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs.
Totaro said that, at Kilkenny's suggestion, he would abstain from a forthcoming vote then consult the Ethics Commission himself.
A 12-year council veteran whose relationship with O'Neill goes back 20 years, Totaro said he would consider resigning his seat if forced out of every major decision.
"If I would have to sit on council and abstain from votes, there's no sense being there," said Totaro....The law requires officials to declare their conflict, orally and in writing, and abstain from participating in the entire decision-making process, said Vincent J. Dobko, the state Ethics Commission's top lawyer.
In Conshohocken, conflicted council members said three successive borough solicitors - including Kilkenny - had previously told them they could vote as long as they disclosed their conflicts."
full text: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/14147028.htm
Way to contact reporter: Jeff Shields at 610-313-8173 or jshields@phillynews.com
END NOTE: Mr. O'Neill is one of the developers who has contributed a lot to the rebirth of Conshohocken, a former mill/factory/steel town. We thought it fair to point that out.
