John,

I read on the Roundaboutmalta facebook page that Dave Plante mentioned you accepted political contributions from Clough Harbor. Was this bad judgement on your part to accept contributions from them, since they are currently doing business with the town, and will be in the future? Will you have to exempt yourself from any decisions the Town Board makes regarding any contracts with them? Isn't this a conflict of interest?

For those not on Facebook, the text was:


Malta NY Posts: County Waste contributed to Mr Crandall's campaign. Is there a conflict of interest with this, or is this common?

Plante Posts: Oh, I thought you meant John Hartzell accepting money from Clough Harbour, an engineering firm that has worked (and I believe may currently works) for the Town of Malta. (http://www.elections.state.ny.us:8080/plsql_browser/CONTRIBUTORA_COUNTY?ID_in=C48819&date_From=&date_to=&AMOUNT_From=&AMOUNT_to=&ZIP1=&ZIP2=&ORDERBY_IN=N&CATEGORY_IN=ALL).

In both instances, from what I have learned in the ethics classes I have taken, is that a person should not accept contributions from a corporation that the Town is doing business with or has done business with in the recent past. Logically, this presents a conflict of interest, in that Crandall or Hartzell would have to publicly disclose their relationship with County Waste or CHA in the future if a vote on county waste or CHA ever came up. in the future. In Hartzell's case, if the rest of the board feels it is even the appearance of a conflict of interest, he should recuse on the vote. In Crandall's case, where he cannot really recuse, it would seem a little fishier......

And come to think of it, Clough Harbor was the firm that wrote the Malta Comprehensive Plan that the Malta GOP candidates, including John, said does not meet the needs of the Town.... Perhaps this is an opportunity to get Clough back in there to do the desired rewrite the GOP wants so badly????

Perhaps you'd care to disclose to others reading the board that it was a $50 campaign contribution. Having served as legal counsel to an ethics board, rest assured I will scrupulously follow ethics laws.

The link above to the NYS Board of Elections in plenty enough disclosure I would think. It is really up to the court of public opinion as to whether or not this type of donation presents the appearance of a potential conflict of interest, so I will leave it to the others on this board and in the Town to determine what they believe, for themselves. I believe a future recusal would be warranted if/when any matters concerning Clough come before the Town Board, which would take care of any potential appearance of a conflict.

like sausville getting 6000.00 from rockwood and thenhe gets his waterline and a 300,000 tax break

While it may not be a conflict of interest it certainly does seem to have "the appearance of a potential conflict".
For what its worth Cynthia Young has only accepted contributions from individuals.
Maggie

quote:

Originally posted by John Hartzell:
Perhaps you'd care to disclose to others reading the board that it was a $50 campaign contribution. Having served as legal counsel to an ethics board, rest assured I will scrupulously follow ethics laws.

John,

It's a small contribution, which shows bad judgement on your part. Why would you accept a contribution from a company that the town does business with? Did you not see this coming back on you if you were to be on the Town Board and had to make a decision regarding a contract with Clough? There must be a reason they contributed to your campaign.

Since you have served as legas counsel in the past, do you see any issues with Crandell accepted $1000.oo from County Waste?

quote:

While it may not be a conflict of interest it certainly does seem to have "the appearance of a potential conflict".
For what its worth Cynthia Young has only accepted contributions from individuals.
Maggie

Maggie, I am a firm believer in transparency and disclosure. If you check the NYS Board of Elections filings, you'll see that this statement is incorrect.

In terms of campaign contributions generally, I received contributions from friends, family, some town residents and some businesses that do business in Malta. With respect to businesses, I have expressed a desire to work more closely with businesses to make Malta a more business-friendly place. I am very confident in my ability to make decisions in the public interest, as I have done in my previous 17 years in office without a single question as to my objectivity.

quote:

Originally posted by John Hartzell:
In terms of campaign contributions generally, I received contributions from friends, family, some town residents and some businesses that do business in Malta. With respect to businesses, I have expressed a desire to work more closely with businesses to make Malta a more business-friendly place. I am very confident in my ability to make decisions in the public interest, as I have done in my previous 17 years in office without a single question as to my objectivity.

You're not even in office yet and we're questioning your objectivity.

Actually, I think it's better to question objectivity before a candidate is elected into office. It's a fair question.

Folks, keep in mind that the law permits you to accept a gift of up to $75 even after you're in office, because it's legally presumed that such a nominal amount wouldn't influence conduct.

Please also keep in mind that I had signficant control over tens of millions of dollars as County Administrator and Budget Director, and I can assure you that you will not find a single instance where I used that authority improperly to my own personal benefit.

the law is the lowest bar society will set. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

quote:

Originally posted by John Hartzell:
Folks, keep in mind that the law permits you to accept a gift of up to $75 even after you're in office, because it's legally presumed that such a nominal amount wouldn't influence conduct.

Please also keep in mind that I had signficant control over tens of millions of dollars as County Administrator and Budget Director, and I can assure you that you will not find a single instance where I used that authority improperly to my own personal benefit.

http://www.dos.state.ny.us/ethc/eisg.html

In New York State, the nominal amount has recently been decreased from $75 to what amounts to a gourmet cup of coffee (see gifts section under link above).

http://www.ogs.state.ny.us/pur...F2009A02Ethics.pps#5

http://www.nyintegrity.org/pubs/gifts.html

The above links are also helpful in providing the legislative law citation (as well as the citation of the Public Employee Reform Act of 2007) stating that the $75 rule is no longer in effect.

quote:

Originally posted by John Hartzell:
Folks, keep in mind that the law permits you to accept a gift of up to $75 even after you're in office, because it's legally presumed that such a nominal amount wouldn't influence conduct.

Please also keep in mind that I had signficant control over tens of millions of dollars as County Administrator and Budget Director, and I can assure you that you will not find a single instance where I used that authority improperly to my own personal benefit.

Thank you John for responding. I understand now. It was a small amount, and if you are trying to make Malta more business-friendly, then I can see why Clough contributed toward your campaign. I see nothing wrong with this now.

However, County Waste giving $1000.00 to Roger Crandell's campaign seems shady. Gotta be a kickback coming to them down the road, otherwise why would they care whether Roger got in office or the current guy (Adriance) being elected back in.

quote:

In New York State, the nominal amount has recently been decreased from $75 to what amounts to a gourmet cup of coffee (see gifts section under link above).

David, the revision you cite to applies to those in State government; municipal officers and employees are still governed by General Municipal Law Section 805-a, which permits gifts of up to $75.

quote:

Originally posted by John Hartzell:

quote:

In New York State, the nominal amount has recently been decreased from $75 to what amounts to a gourmet cup of coffee (see gifts section under link above).

David, the revision you cite to applies to those in State government; municipal officers and employees are still governed by General Municipal Law Section 805-a, which permits gifts of up to $75.

Yes, that is correct. It would appear PEERA of 2007 has not yet amended Section 805 of the NYS General Municipal Law. My apologies for any confusion. Regardless of the amount of a contribution, it would be ethically acceptable to recuse from any discussion/vote in the future regarding entities that contribute to a campaign once elected.

As far as Roger Crandall is concerned, I believe a gift as large as the one he received from County Waste, the firm that is the primary carrier in our Town and worked in tandem with the Town Highway Department on the annual Town-wide clean up day. I believe the Town no longer deemed it cost effective to do this annual clean up day, so perhaps county waste may wish to grab the contract for that. Does an appearance of a conflict exist? I would say yes.

Doesn't matter much now. What does matter is that John refuses to listen to reason about the Malta downtown because it's unpopular amongst those with whom he has been politically supported the most. Don't trust his intentions.

quote:

Originally posted by Just Maggie:
While it may not be a conflict of interest it certainly does seem to have "the appearance of a potential conflict".
For what its worth Cynthia Young has only accepted contributions from individuals.
Maggie

Wow Maggie, that's absolutely hilarious you say that. Maybe you don't check online often, don't check the facts that often, or maybe you just care to cover up and hide the fallicies you just projected:

http://www.elections.state.ny....p_transaction_code=C

Why is Ms. Young accepting donations from a company (a company is not an individual!) from South Glens Falls AND New York City? A women's liberal pro-choice organization based out of New York City! For someone who pledges herself on hometown values and someone who "apparently" only accepts contributions from individuals, where is the saliency in her campaign? And $750?! All this talk of ethics and Mr. Hartzell's contributions; maybe we should focus on Ms. Young and her "hometown values".