In the end, Anne Carbone is guilty of bad judgment, and her court was her employer. The ethics panel, comprised of Common Council Members Carvin Hilliard, Mick Coffey and Rick McQuaid voted to dismiss an ethics complaint after the original complainants withdrew the complaint. From Matt “Mad Max” Breslow’s Norwalk Advocate article:
At the start of the hearing, Cassone said the committee had nothing to act on because the complaint had been withdrawn. He said that proceeding without the Diezes’ participation would force Carbone to defend herself against “vapor” and violate her due process right to confront her accusers.
“I don’t have any witnesses of those allegations to confront tonight,” Cassone said.
Committee Chairman Michael Coffey asked Cassone if he could cite case law to support his position. Cassone said he couldn’t and would present his client’s defense “under protest.”
Carbone represented the Diezes from September to December 2005 while at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, which announced in December 2006 - after the ethics complaint became public - that she no longer worked there.
Over the past five months, Carbone’s reputation has been sullied and her ability to earn a living as a real estate agent was “completely taken away from her” while she awaited resolution of the complaint, Cassone said.
The Diezes had an illicit kitchenette when they spoke to Carbone about representing them, but she said they must remove the cooking equipment and seek any necessary permits for work they performed in the room, Cassone said.
Let’s stop the narrative here and ask why didn’t Carbone file the anonymous violation at this point?
The couple removed the equipment and Carbone accepted the listing, advertising the room as a wet bar, the attorney said. He said the Diezes found a buyer for their home but decided not to sell because of a family crisis.When the couple hired another agent to sell their house last year, Carbone noticed the listing advertised a kitchenette and assumed the illegal cooking equipment had been returned, Cassone said.
The Diezes have said the listing was erroneous and subsequently changed.
Carbone asked the zoning department whether the Diezes had a permit for a kitchenette and found they didn’t, Cassone said. That information was public, and pictures of the house were posted on the Internet in the sale attempt, he said.
Hell hath no fury like a real estate broker scorned … or something like that.
Carbone filed an anonymous complaint - which any citizen can do - in May 2006 at the zoning department, Cassone said.The complaint spurred two zoning inspections, the second of which called the room an illegal second kitchen. The Diezes appealed the inspector’s finding in December but lost and took the case to state Superior Court.
Zoning Inspector Aline Rochefort last night told the Ethics Committee that Carbone did not pressure her to make the second inspection. The second inspection occurred because the first, conducted by someone else, did not address the subject of the complaint, Rochefort said.
“Ms. Carbone supplied information,” Cassone said. “She cannot and did not make the zoning inspector do anything.”
Planning and Zoning Director Michael Greene said city officials routinely file anonymous complaints with his office.
Maybe people who sit on boards, commissions and the common council shouldn’t be allowed to file anonymous complaints. Coldwell Banker realized instantly that having a real estate agent file zoning violations on former clients is just bad business. It’s bad for the ZBA too, since people who disagree with a finding of a zoning violation will end up appealing it. And therefor will end up before the ZBA. If the complaint was anonymous, how does anyone know whether the ZBA member should recuse them self?
Update: According to the Hour:
Rochefort said Carbone submitted between 50 and 60 zoning complaints — “a small stack of paper” — over a period of months.
For full disclosure, I currently sit as a member of the Zoning Commission.
source:Norwalk Advocate, Ethics charge dropped, May 2 2007
source: The Hour, Ethics committee dismisses complaint against city official, By PATRICK R. LINSEY, May 2 2007
