City Lawmaker Misused Office, Ethics Board Says

For the first time in its 18-year history, the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board is fingering a City Council member for a violation.Council Member Michael McMahon of Staten Island acknowledged that he misused city resources by asking an administrative assistant on several occasions between 2004 and 2006 to call parents of players on his daughter’s soccer team to discuss practice and game schedules. He also “allowed” an administrative assistant to spend an hour typing a poem for his daughter, who was visiting the office, according to a board report released yesterday. Mr. McMahon was not fined for his violations.Mr. McMahon’s chief of staff, Kenneth Mitchell, received a separate citation for a conflict of interest violation for asking a City Council employee to make photocopies and paper cutouts for his girlfriend’s school lesson in 2004. The administrative assistant worked on the project intermittently for about 10 days, the report says.Mr. McMahon said he admitted to the wrongdoing during an investigation into his office’s practices triggered by what he called “a very politically motivated scurrilous anonymous letter.” He had been accused of using his council office for political purposes, but the board found no evidence of such abuses, he said.He said he was annoyed by the tone of the report and said it was a case of bureaucrats trying to justify their existence. “If this is all they have to put their time into, maybe they should shut down that office,” Mr. McMahon said.The council’s Standards and Ethics Committee will review the violations, Speaker Christine Quinn said.“It has been made abundantly clear to Council Member McMahon and other Council Members that use of staff for personal activities is absolutely not permitted,” she said in a written statement. “Since becoming Speaker, I have stressed the importance of adhering to the highest ethical standards for Members and staff.”A spokesman for the Richmond County district attorney on Staten Island, William Smith, wrote in an e-mail message that the Conflicts of Interest Board had not asked the office to pursue a criminal investigation. He said the facts and laws governing Mr. McMahon’s conduct would be reviewed should District Attorney Daniel Donovan Jr. receive a referral for a criminal investigation.The executive director of the government watchdog group Citizens Union, Dick Dadey, praised the board for its work and suggested it be given more authority to seek out possible violations.“It’s the first time a council member has been caught,” he said. “But I suspect personal use of city resources by our elected officials has occurred more than just this one time.”

City Lawmaker Misused Office, Ethics Board Says

City Lawmaker Misused Office, Ethics Board Says

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