Civic Accountability -- Honesty in Local Government II

[Mark Kindt]

Each city council member with a potential conflict had months following the January 2015 public announcement of the Letter of Intent to seek an individual written opinion from the Ohio Ethics Commission with respect to any potential conflict-of-interest.

Not only were these conflicts-of-interest ignored, but contemporaneous Sunshine law duties were also ignored. (The Sunshine law violations are the subject of Skindell v. Madigan in the Ohio 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.)

If they did not want to seek guidance from the Ohio Ethics Commission, each of them could have consulted with their own private legal counsel.

[Mark Kindt]

The table (attached above) is intended to illustrate the severity of the problem and not to impugn the integrity of those listed on the table. I reminded all council members in writing in February 2016 on the conflicts-of-interest risks described in the current table posted today. Here, I quote the relevant text of that letter.

Excerpt from Letter to Council Members, February 15, 2016

“The Process Appears Rife with Conflicts of Interest

I am deeply concerned that the transaction that resulted in the closure of Lakewood Hospital was rife with undisclosed and unresolvable conflicts of interest. This is apparent from the recent Ohio Ethics Commission opinions related to the Lakewood Hospital board members, including the Mayor.

A. Council members serving on the Lakewood Hospital Association board with knowledge of the process and its likely defects (as described above), failed to recuse themselves from participating in deliberations with respect to the LHA transaction and from voting upon it.

B. If Council members received campaign contributions from then current LHA board members or CCF employees, wasn’t there also a duty to recuse themselves from deliberations and from voting upon the transaction?

C. Council members who served on the LHA board or who may have received campaign contributions from LHA board members (or CCF employees) likely have a continuing duty of recusal with respect to the transaction and its implementation.

D. Given the above issues, the public has both a reasonable and legitimate concern in understanding whether Council members were promised, expected or received other inducements with respect to the LHA transaction. To the extent that such inducements have been received are or expected, such Council members likely have (at a minimum) a continuing duty of recusal.”

I'm sure that other citizens raised similar issues.

[Mark Kindt]

Some conflicts of interest can be misdemeanor or felony violations of state law (ORC Section 2921.42) or federal law (Hobbs Act). It is crucial that, when in doubt, a public official seek guidance from the Ohio Ethics Commission or private legal counsel. This is facing the "orange jumpsuit" problem. A problem that Cuyahoga County is most familiar with.

And, as I have said before, just because conduct has not been actually prosecuted, doesn't make it legal.

This raises the next question for me.

How many other actions or decisions of the city administration are this conflict-laden?

Or, was the deal to close the hospital unique in its own particular form of shabbiness?

From everything I've learned over the past several, none of this seems unique to the hospital deal.

A permissive view of ethics-in-government when yoked to a narrow view of compliance with the Sunshine laws is a recipe for legal disaster for our local public officials. It is also a recipe for potentially unchecked abuse.

It has dramatically increased the actual legal risks to the city (that now faces three lawsuits). Clearly, these conflicts of interest could be evidence in all of these cases. Further, they provide predicate for future legal actions against the city (more fully discussed in "Honesty in Local Government I".)

[Mark Kindt]

I could hammer down into these issues much further. Let me leave a few final thoughts.

I am proud of how our citizens rallied to understand these issues, how they organized, and how they have taken these issues into the courts to seek justice.

Let us continue to be observant on local Sunshine law compliance and let us continue to promote the concept of ethics-in-government as a routine order of business.

Best wishes to all for a Most Happy New Year!

[Dan Alaimo]

Mark, speaking for myself: hammer away.

[Stan Austin]

Mark--- I'll echo Dan's comments. Your posts might not be showing responses just because of the simple fact that you are presenting so much! It takes time to digest it!
Stan

[Bridget Conant]

I think the lack of responses is more one of respect for Mr Kindt's scholarship.

We can all add comments reflecting our disgust and outrage, but it merely detracts from the good work Mr Kindt has done. No one wants to distract from the essence of his work.

Keep it up. Bravo!

[T Peppard]

I think the lack of responses is more one of respect for Mr Kindt's scholarship.

We can all add comments reflecting our disgust and outrage, but it merely detracts from the good work Mr Kindt has done. No one wants to distract from the essence of his work.

Keep it up. Bravo!

Bravo, indeed! This is a tremendous reference for all. I sensed there were ethical issues but I did not fully understand the details. Mark's work is incredible.

Whenever I am asked about the loss of our hospital, I gratefully refer folks to this thread. Mark is brilliant & highly esteemed. I hope every member of our government reads his work. I hope it profoundly influences them. Civic accountability is imperative to any respectable government.

[Mark Kindt]

I thank each of you for such kind remarks.

My goal in the "Civic Accountability" series has been to describe in detail and in an interactive manner (with the documents) the legal liability risks taken unnecessarily by the city administration and the need for a robust formal written ethics-in-government policy to mitigate the future risk.

My critique is non-partisan; I am a third-generation Democrat. Including my own public service, our family has seen the duties and responsibilities of public service for more than four decades.

If you read my published Op-Ed articles (http://www.kindt.com), you will also see that I am generally pro-development. However, economic development cannot come at the expense of the integrity of our governmental processes.

I hope you will check the Observation Deck for future installments of this series. There will be other issues to review and consider.

I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Again, thank you for your interest!

[Mark Kindt]

In 2017, let's keep this thought in mind.

Whenever you meet with an elected official in Lakewood, please ask him or her why the city does not have an ethics-in-government policy? And, what are they going to do about it?

[Mark Kindt]

As you can see on the attached document, we can see that one of our elected City officials sits on a local corporate board.

In line with my previous observations in this series about pervasive conflicts of interest related to elected City officials, does the City of Lakewood need formal written guidelines that govern the participation of elected officials on non-governmental private boards? Of course it does.

How can elected public officials meet conflicting fiduciary duties when they serve on multiple boards? Which duty takes precedent, the municipal, the foundation, or the corporate?

Again, this illustrates the fact that the City of Lakewood continues to lack commonly understood and widely adopted standards of ethics-in-government.

We aren't even in the 20th Century on this.

[Mark Kindt]

Hopefully, the City has an opinion from the Ohio Ethics Commission that approves this relationship. As I generally understand this, when a public official sits on a board of a private entity, that entity cannot do business with the public officials' unit of government without violating Ohio law, because of the possible sanctions that could flow to the public official. These laws have to be carefully navigated. The City already has several adverse opinions from the OEC on similar issues. I'm sure they must have checked this out already.

[dl meckes]

I cannot imagine why Mr. Kindt would think that "they must have checked this out already". Every elected official is very nice, so there can't possibly be any ethical issues.

[Mark Kindt]

Attached is my current summary of identified problems as of August 4, 2017. Please review and keep a copy for your files. We will face many of these issues again in the future.

[Lori Allen _]

At this point, I believe the series of alleged crimes, allegedly committed in Lakewood,by city officials and friends, makes some ethics violations, except public records, seem rather unimportant.

People thought I was wrong when I posted a couple years ago, that I believed the Lakewood City Schools were involved in this whole mess.

I predict more people will be fleeing from the U.S.S. Summers soon.

I suggest that the citizens of Lakewood say no to anymore tax increases by the city or the schools until they start coughing up some truths!