Paula Bongiorno, of Mt. Lebanon, told the school board that she believed Vice President Joseph Rodella is violating the just-adopted Board Member Code of Ethics policy because he also serves on the board of the municipality's Parents Athletic Council.The ethics policy, adopted at Monday's board meeting, states that "board members should avoid any conflict of interest or any appearance of impropriety." Bongiorno said that, because the athletic council raises money for sports groups, some of which come before the school board for support, Rodella's seat on the council is a conflict of interest.
Bongiorno cited the Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club as benefiting from the athletic council and has been lobbying the school board to build a pool.
Rodella said he didn't believe his seats on the two boards presented a conflict, but that he would check with the State Ethics Commission and the other members of the school board. He said if either body suggests there is a conflict, he would give up his seat on the athletic council.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05230/555430.stm#ixzz1LrqxnWt5
19 comments:
OK, I'll bite . . . What's your point?
Dave Franklin
Don't know where you found this and what prompted you to post it, Elaine, but there is much more to the story. Here is what I recall from memory :
1) Paula made the conflict claim, some would say it was an accusation, at a public SB meeting...Joe Rodella denied it;
2) Paula continued to repeat her claim...Rodella continued to deny;
3) Rodella submitted what is known as a "request for an advisory opinion" to the Ethics Commission in Harrisburg on the matter. Paula had not filed a formal complaint or request for a conflict investigation with the Ethics Commission;
4) unlike proceedings in a formal investigation, the "advisory opinion" approach is informal and the Commission, usually by the Commission's General Counsel, renders an "advisory opinion" to the requestor...Rodella in this case, who publicly indicated he had sought such an "opinion";
5) time passed, and Paula finally asked if an "opinion" had been given and received, and Rodella read from the "opinion" that a conflict did not exist;
5) Paula requested a copy of the written "opinion"....Rodella agreed to provide a copy at the next SB meeting;
6) Joe Rodella gave Paula a copy of the "opinion" at the next SB meeting;
7) a review of the "opinion" revealed the following : (a) the Commission policy was that any appeals to the "opinion" had to be submitted to the Commission no more than 30 days from the "opinion" date, otherwise the "opinion" was final and not appealable....Paula received the "opinion" copy about 45 days after its issuance date, (b) the Commission *disclaimer* statement was that the "opinion" was based soley on information presented to the Commission by the requestor...Rodella...in the original request statements , and (c) the opinion was based on apparent but unstated facts that (1) the requestor was not an elected or appointed officer of the organization (ie. Parents Athletic Council, or PAC), and (2) the requestor did not have any financial control or fundraising authority over the organization (PAC);
8) Paula had in her possession, and I in mine, the most recent fundraising letter, postal mailed by and from the PAC. The letterhead included a listing of PAC officers...Joe Rodella was shown to be a Senior Vice President of the PAC;
9) the SB accepted the "opinion" without question (and very likely without reading), Paula attempted an appeal based on omitted facts, but was denied under the 30-day policy; and, Joe Rodella claimed he had resigned from the PAC but that the PAC stationery had not been revised.
Perhaps Paula or others who recall this matter will wish to comment.
Bill Lewis
Ah, Yes! The first pool project was WAY over budget just like the high school project and the pool was not built because it was WAY over budget.
WALTON was involved in the pool project too. Looks like CAROL is 0-2 in construction projects.
John Ewing
Bill, sports groups are very influencial when it comes to Mt. Lebanon politics.
From Blog Lebo:
Bill Lewis said:
I assume these e-mails have likely received rather wide distribution around the community. If they are false or fraudulent, they should be exposed as such. Here they are:
1)From: Gardner, Robert
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009
To: Daniel K. Goff; Mary Birks;
Jo Posti; David Reese; Hagy
Cc: Bill Difenderfer
Subject: RE: Meeting Reminder
This e-mail refers to a draft
campaign letter by Gardner,
attached, they were
collaborating on intended for
broad distribution in Lebo
that asks recipiants to vote
for Posti, Gardner and Birks on
May 19th.
2)From: Daniel K. Goff
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009
To: David Reese;Scot Caplan;
Bill Difenderfer; Hagy;
Chip Dalesandro; Stephen
Patrick
Cc: Robert Gardner; Jo Posti;
Mary Birks
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL-do not
use a forward email
This message complimented the
Gardner draft (referred to
above), referred to "our
meeting with the candidates",
the seeking of "influential
people in the community" to be
"visible signors" on the letter
who would send the letter to
their personal email lists using
the "bcc"area so that the mail
addresses would not be visible
to the recipients...for the
stated reason "..if we do not
do everything in our power to
change the make-up of the school
board and get these three
candidates elected, then nothing
will get done."
The message goes on: "With this
list, I believe we have at least
football, basketball, and
wrestling covered. We need to
cover basketball, baseball, soft-
ball,wrestling, soccer, lacrosse,
field hockey, swimming, and
theatre arts"
It continues with the need for
fundraising with the caution
" We also learned that there are
rules related to fund raising so
please do not do anything on your
own without consulting the
candidates."
This message was apparently sent
from a corporate office.
If nothing else, and these messages are authentic, perhaps we will eventually learn who
"influential people in the community" are.
May 03, 2009 8:08 PM
Bill Lewis said...
There have been no posted denials as to the authenticity of the emails referred to in my May 3rd. comments. Therefire, both the individuals named and the email content excerpted must be authentic.
Since May 3rd. I have been forwarded a large number of additional emails that include beyond the same, inclusion of additional individuals and similar but more expansive subject matter. School district employees also appear.
A number of the youth sports organizations involved in all this have associated nonprofit, charitable 50i(c)(3) organizations. If the identified individuals are representing their youth sports organizations, they are also representing their 501(c)(3)'s. Many of the emails include school board candidate recipients and stated support for those three candidates as well as opposition to the four remaining candidates. This represents a very slippery slope and could involve what is classified as Political Campaign Intervention....and here's what the IRS says about that kind of activity: "Under the Internal Revenue Code, all 501(c)(3)organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes."
May 08, 2009 2:42 PM
Comment continued...
Conflicts of interest?
Ed Kubit Family is listed as a Booster and wasn't he the president when the turf was approved?
Chip Dalesandro is President of MLFA and applied for the vacated school board seat.
Elaine
Notice Scott Hagy is listed in the address field of the emails. Scott is the Principal of Keystone Oaks High School. Why is the Principal of Keystone Oaks High School interfering in a political campaign in Mt. Lebanon?
John Ewing
To suggest that individuals in our community who wear many hats have a conflict of interest is simply foolish. To suggest that an elected official cannot donate his own money to an athletic association is absurd. To suggest that someone involved with athletics cannot or should not seek public office is simply irrational.
Dave Franklin
Dan Miller, a class act, never votes on anything related to the Fire Department since he wears a fireman's hat. Joe DeIuliis, who works for DCK, and Ed Kubit, who is involved with Mt. Lebanon Football, should follow his lead.
Conflicts of interest do exist in Leboland.
Elaine, what vote has Ed participated in that presented a conflict of interest, keeping in mind that his involvement with the Mt Lebanon Football Association consists of his 9 year old son's participation and contributing his own money as part of the booster program, and also keeping in mind that the Mt. Lebanon Football Association (like every other sports association) has no affiliation with the school district?
Dave Franklin
Elaine...Dave Franklin is a director with Mt. Lebanon Football. He did 'everything in his power' to keep you off the board on your blog...Chris Williams
Chris,
I don't know if that is true, because I am not running anymore.
But I sure have had a few interesting comments submitted here from several people.
I guess it is easier to come after me rather than challenge the decision makers.
Elaine
I have a son in 3rd grade who plays football. He's a bit on the small side and frankly prefers baseball and lacrosse at this age. Hardly the stuff that election conspiracies are made of, but if that's what makes you happy knock yourselves out.
Elaine, please let me know where the conflict is in Ed's case. I don't think it's fair to throw that out there and not back it up.
Dave Franklin
Mr. Franklin...No affiliation with the school district? http://www.mtlebanonfootball.com/contact.html Didn't Mrs. Gillen mention turf and Mr. Kubit? Going back to lurking...Chris Williams
Chris, no need to lurk, but I understand. Thanks for your comments and thanks for reading.
Elaine
Wow, the smoking gun. Email addresses for the School Board. Shocking! Let me know when you can concoct a story to support your assumption or allegation of a conflict of interest with Ed.
Dave Franklin
Just curious Chris, do you think Mr. Kubit voting for a new high school turf while his son played 2nd grade football is a conflict of interest?
Dave Franklin
Chris, I don't know who you are or how long you have been reading this blog, but I can see why you are shy about posting. If you ignore Dave, maybe he will go away. Don't take it personally. He goes after everyone here. :)
Elaine
Elaine, you accused 2 elected officials of a conflict of interest but I'm the attacker? Seriously?
I've asked you to support your rather strong assertion, but you haven't. Chris seemed to support your assertion and I'm simply asking him if he thinks there's a conflict.
My point is this - don't drag someone (or an association) through the mud unless you can back it up.
Dave Franklin
Dave, many times officials recuse themselves, even over the appearance of a conflict of interest. I have backed up everything I have said over these last six months on this blog and over a year on the website. I have produced Master Design Team minutes indicating an offer for an$8 million donation, which magically never transpired. I have linked to documents, articles, and websites. Maybe you missed all those links when you vowed to stop reading this blog. For your convenience, I do keep a blog archive.
For whatever reason, you are doing the same thing that you accused Mr. Kendrick of doing on Blog Lebo - hijacking a blog with antagonistic responses.
I am not here to say that everything is perfect in Mt. Lebanon. I go to meetings, gather information, run for office knowing full well that I would need thick skin, and try to make a difference instead of just complaining. I have to include a quote that you made on Blog-Lebo.
"It is indeed unfortunate because deep down it annoys the hell out of me to think that a few irrelevant voices have ruined the process and perhaps even the potential for improvement in our community.
However, in the end, running for office is a personal choice and my decision was based entirely on my desire to focus my time and attention (and my family’s time and attention) on those activities and causes that involve fewer malcontents and offer more positive outcomes."
There are readers who do not agree with me. That is no surprise. I have published many comments that I don't agree with, but yours stand out, Dave. I chose to not publish some of them. I have only done that with one other person.
Take your own advice. "Don't drag someone (or an association) through the mud unless you can back it up."
Elaine
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