“In essence, typically, financial disclosure statements must be disclosed insofar as they indicate the sources of one’s assets, but they may be withheld from the public insofar as they indicate the value of the assets.”
The Kingston Times is appealing the city’s rejection of the information request. Meanwhile, interviews with a number of officials who are required to submit disclosure statements cast doubt on whether the requested information even exists. Council members Dunn, Bill Carey (D-Ward 5) Elisa Ball (D-Ward 6) and Brad Will (D-Ward 3), as well as former alderwoman Andi Turco-Levin who sits on the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals and the board of the Kingston Local Development Corporation, all questioned whether the forms had been distributed. Ball, Carey, Will and Dunn, who voted to pass the ethics law, all said that they had not received the forms and were not aware of anybody who had. Turco-Levin said that she had signed several forms regarding conflicts of interest — but not ones that included the kind of detailed financial data contained in the annual disclosure statement. Common Council President James Noble and Minority Leader Deborah Brown (R-Ward 9) did not respond to requests for comment.
When asked by e-mail whether any financial disclosure forms had been filed, City Comptroller John Tuey, who is charged with maintaining the records, referred all questions to the mayor’s office. Gallo, who was CC’d in the same e-mail, did not respond to requests for comment.
Ball said the subject of the financial disclosure forms “has not come up at all.” But she added that she did not believe the law was being ignored. “I’m confident that the steps that need to be taken will be taken,” said Ball. “I’m not overly concerned.”
Rebecca Thorning Wine contributed reporting to this story.
I recall a taxi ordinance that was not given to taxi drivers, a no smoking ordinance under the pike plan that was never posted, and this ethics thing makes 3 that I know of… and the issue over the ethics was political, continuing action by Mr Hoffay et al, angry with Gallo his primary, his primary win, and that animosity continues, and gets returned in kind….
The issue is, beyond the fact that the ethics was not distributed, whose responsibilty, who is working to fix the flawed bill and when… this citizen is interested in fixing the problem and moving on. I guess that will have to wait until the breadth of the problem is even known: the council passes bad laws, fails to put them into action…
Here is a place for a Kingston Citizens organization to convene and discuss: a town hall format would be welcome.
Good on the Kingston Times for keeping the ball rolling on this scandal. The mayor has done nothing, apparently, when it comes to following the new ethics law — most likely because he has something to hide. The KT should take the Gallo administration to court, if necessary, to get to the bottom of this. This mayor runs the city as if it’s his own personal toy, and it has to stop. And note how the Freeman remains on the sidelines in regard to this story. No, it takes a plucky, local paper to show us all, including the Freeman, what a real newspaper looks like. Keep up the good work!