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Public Works Misconduct in Tulsa and Montreal
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
Robert Wechsler
Two former public works employees are in the news this week for
misconduct.
According to an article in the Tulsa World, a former Tulsa field engineering officer who sat on the Professional Consulting Services Selection Committee pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy, and procurement fraud. What's especially interesting about the bribery here is that the bribes were paid through the submission of inflated invoices. The official and someone from the construction company made up inflated invoices and then divided the excess paid by the city. A clever method that local governments should watch for.
According to an article in the Montreal Gazette, the former public works director is being investigated not because he and his wife went on a vacation to Italy with the president and vice-president of city contractors with whom he directly did business, as well as a construction union leader, but because he didn't report the trip.
The investigation began when the mayor was given a tip about the trip. The mayor's office notified the human resources department. The public works director was questioned about the trip, and he immediately resigned.
The mayor took this to mean that the new ethics code is working, even though the code did not tell the director not to go on the trip. He says he doesn't see a need to tighten the rules. "We have a good ethics code for our public servants, but if someone wants to do things that are irregular ... then it has nothing to do with an ethics code." I hope that's just a poor translation from the French.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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According to an article in the Tulsa World, a former Tulsa field engineering officer who sat on the Professional Consulting Services Selection Committee pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy, and procurement fraud. What's especially interesting about the bribery here is that the bribes were paid through the submission of inflated invoices. The official and someone from the construction company made up inflated invoices and then divided the excess paid by the city. A clever method that local governments should watch for.
According to an article in the Montreal Gazette, the former public works director is being investigated not because he and his wife went on a vacation to Italy with the president and vice-president of city contractors with whom he directly did business, as well as a construction union leader, but because he didn't report the trip.
The investigation began when the mayor was given a tip about the trip. The mayor's office notified the human resources department. The public works director was questioned about the trip, and he immediately resigned.
The mayor took this to mean that the new ethics code is working, even though the code did not tell the director not to go on the trip. He says he doesn't see a need to tighten the rules. "We have a good ethics code for our public servants, but if someone wants to do things that are irregular ... then it has nothing to do with an ethics code." I hope that's just a poor translation from the French.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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