Last fall when Kevin Poruban filed an ethics complaint against fellow council member Nick Kydes, I suspect that few if any thought about the ramifications of costs of the complaint. Unlike an earlier ethics complaint, this time it wasn’t a citizen filing the complaint against an official, it was an official filing against another official.
Kydes, quickly sought legal advice, and at the hearing showed up with a lawyer and a stenographer. Poruban showed up without legal representation. The meeting lasted a a few hours. Who knows what prep time Kydes undertook, but the time between the filing of the complaint and the hearing certainly suggests minimal time. Which is why on the surface a $14k bill seems outrageous.
The billing should be an issue council members discuss, because if the taxpayer is on the hook for legal fees in defense of its officials and appointees, then the taxpayer should have recourse for determining what kind of legal representation an official or appointee can obtain.
The other issue to grapple with is the relatively light “ownership” of the costs should future complaints be filed by officials or appointees against official or appointees. If the taxpayer is picking up the tab, without question or restrictions, then there’s hardly any disincentive to the filing of all sorts of frivolous ethics violation claims, that would simply provide dram and chew up tax dollars that could be better spent on other things. Just think of what would happen should every council member file and ethics complaint against Stuart Opdahl, as an example.
Unfortunately, there are no lawyers on this council who might grasp the legal implications of this. Krummel has asked for a corp council opinion, which in itself is a good idea. I don’t think the corp counsel will set precedent and suggest that Kydes seek redress from Poruban, which is how this would be handled in civil court. The legal shield for all officials and appointees is the larger issue here.
From The Hour:
On Tuesday night, the council is scheduled to vote on reimbursing Kydes $13,677.54 in legal fees and expenses incurred in connection with the ethics complaint filed against him by Councilman Kevin M. Poruban early last September. The reimbursement also is “subject to the availability of funding.”
Poruban could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
“This was out of pocket and I’m seeking to be reimbursed,” said Kydes, a Republican re-elected to a second, two-year term last fall. “The case was won by me against the vicious and fictitious allegations by Poruban. I believe that justice has been served. The truth has come out and I’m just going to move on.”
Kydes said he believes he will have to recuse himself from voting on the reimbursement request Tuesday night.
Poruban, a District C Democrat who served at-large on the council at the time, alleged that Kydes, as a member of the council’s Planning Committee, discussed the city’s Wall Street Development Plan while withholding that his brother owned property relevant to the plan, and that he participated in votes and discussion that could influence his brother’s interests.
The Globe Theatre property, which lies within the 6.3-acre redevelopment area, is co-owned by Mary Kyriakides, wife of Kydes’ brother Andy Kyriakides.On Oct. 9, 2007, the council’s ethics committee ruled that Kydes did not commit an ethics violation when he engaged in discussion and cast votes in relation to the Wall Street Development Plan.
At the hearing, Kydes’ attorney, David W. Rubin, called Poruban’s claims “factually wrong.” Mary Kyriakides did not become co-owner of the property until May 9, 2007, according to land records, Rubin told the ethics committee.
Rubin charged Kydes $13,227 for legal services. A court reporter charged the councilman another $450.50, according to invoices included in Tuesday night’s council packet.
Whether the council reimburses Kydes could hinge on whether the city’s old or new ethics code is in play. Last June, the council adopted a new and more comprehensive code.
“The new ordinance says that legal fees can be paid, and actually there was some precedent back many years that there was some funds at that time advanced for the legal fees paid,” said Mayor Richard A. Moccia, a Republican. “My personal opinion is this was a frivolous, nonsensical complaint that now is going to cost the city, if they decide to approve it, (roughly) $13,000.
“This is the concern you have about ethics charges and why it has to be so nonpolitical on that board. It cannot be people that are recent political appointees or active,” Moccia added.
The question of reimbursement comes as the council seeks résumés from people to serve on the new, seven-member Board of Ethics, as called for in the new ethics code.
Council Majority Leader William M. Krummel, a Democrat and member of the Planning Committee, indicated that he needs information from the law departments and also about the outcome of Kydes’ hearing before voting on the reimbursement request.
“I guess we’re operating under the old ordinance prior to revision. It’s not clear to me yet what the city’s responsibility is in a situation like this. I first would look at the ordinance, the one that was in effect when Poruban brought his charges against Kydes,” Krummel said. “This perhaps is more of a legal question than anything else. We’d have to have a legal opinion first, and I always want to look at things myself.”
source: THe Hour Kydes asks city to pay legal bill, By Robert Koch, February 9, 2008
