WASHINGTON STATE

 EXECUTIVE ETHICS BOARD

2425 Bristol Court SW– 4th Floor Conference Room – Olympia, WA

March 13, 2015

Regular Meeting Minutes

 

 

 

A.   Preliminary Business

1.    Roll Call

The regular meeting of the Washington State Executive Ethics Board (Board) was called to order by Chair Lisa Marsh at 9:00 a.m.  In attendance were Vice Chair Anna Dudek Ross and Members Samantha Simmons and Sumeer Singla. Board staff in attendance included:  Executive Director Kate Reynolds, Assistant Attorney General Bruce Turcott, Investigator David Killeen and Administrative Officer Ruthann Bryant.

 

2.    Approval of Agenda

 

Motion 15-001 Moved by Vice Chair Dudek Ross, seconded by Member Simmons:

 

The Board approves the March 13, 2015 agenda as presented.

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

3.    Approval of the November 14, 2014 Meeting Minutes

Chair Marsh requested clarification of concerns addressed in the amendment of the Department of Licensing’s Soliciting Contributions in the Workplace policy.

        

Motion 15-002 Moved by Vice Chair Dudek Ross, seconded by Member Simmons:  

 

The Board approves the November 14, 2014 minutes as amended.

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

B.   Enforcement Matters

Stipulations

EEB Case 2014-003 (Noland)

Kate Reynolds briefed the Board on a proposed stipulation and order in the matter of Ken Noland. Mr. Noland agreed that he may have violated RCW 42.52.070 when he allowed his son and his son’s girlfriend into a Seattle Seahawks game without tickets.

The stipulation proposes a penalty of $1,000 with $500 suspended.

EEB Case No. 2014-037 (Harris)

David Killeen briefed the Board on a proposed stipulation and order in the matter of Marie Harris. Ms. Harris agreed that she may have RCW 42.52.160 when she used state resources to download books for her Kindle and to browse the internet for her personal benefit.

The stipulation proposes a penalty of $3,000 with $1,500 suspended.

EEB Case No. 2014-038 (Robinson)

Mr. Killeen also briefed the Board on the proposed stipulation and order in the matter of Kami Robinson. Ms. Robinson agreed that she may have violated RCW 42.52.160 when she used state resources for his personal benefit to include supporting outside fundraising and volunteer efforts.

The stipulation proposes a penalty of $2,000 with $1,000 suspended.

EEB Case No. 2014-047 (Voigt)

David Killeen briefed the Board on the proposed stipulation and order in the matter of Chris Voigt.  Mr. Voigt agreed that he may have violated RCW 42.52.160 and .180 by using his state vehicle to transport campaign signs and using state resources to promote a political campaign.

The stipulation proposes a penalty of $4,000 with $2,500 suspended.

EEB Case No. 2014-071 (Horvath)

David Killeen briefed the Board on the proposed stipulation and order in the matter of Dan Horvath.  Mr. Horvath agreed that he may have violated RCW 42.52.160 by using his state issued cell phone and computer to text and email a co-worker for personal benefit.

The stipulation proposes a penalty of $1,750.

EEB Case No. 2014-072 (Swanstrom)

David Killeen briefed the Board on the proposed stipulation and order in the matter of Dawn Swanstrom.  Ms. Swanstrom agreed that she may have violated RCW 42.52.160 by using her cell phone and state issued computer to text and email a co-worker for personal benefit.

The stipulation proposes a penalty of $1,500.

Executive Director Dismissals

EEB Case No. 2014-016 (Venditti) EEB Case No. 2014-029 (Lettic), EEB Case No. 2014-054 (Cenci), EEB Case No. 2014-053 (Myers), EEB Case No. 2014-055 (Crown), EEB Case No. 2014-057 (Herzog), 2014-070 (Harris), 2014-074 (Slagle), EEB Case No. 2014-086 (Bonato) and 2014-098 (Mehta)

Kate Reynolds summarized ten Executive Director Dismissals.

The Board deferred action on the enforcement matters until after their closed session.

 

C.   Legislative Update

Kate Reynolds provided an update on bills that may have an affect on RCW 42.52 and AAG Bruce Turcott provided an update on bills that may have an affect on the Administrative Procedure Act.

D.   Retired Advisory Opinion Review

Ruthann Bryant reported on a list of Advisory Opinions that had previously been retired by the Board with the intent that they would be consolidated into a frequently asked question document.  Staff has learned that Ethics Advisors and their agencies prefer to have formal Board advice over an FAQ format. Ms. Bryant requested that the Board remove opinions from retired status.

Chair Marsh noted that the index included opinions that should remain in retirement and suggested that staff review the list and bring the opinions to a future meeting.

 

E.   Policy Reviews

Kate Reynolds noted that Washington State University has requested that we hold their policy review request until a future meeting.

 

She then reported on an Ethics policy/procedure submitted by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and recommended approval.

 

Motion 14-003 Moved by Member Singla, seconded by Vice Chair Dudek Ross: 

 

The Board approves the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges Ethics policy/procedure as presented.

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

F.    Staff Reports

1.  Executive Director’s Report

Kate Reynolds provided the Board with an update on trainings conducted by staff and current open cases.  She also noted that the Governor appointed Fred Finn to fill the open State Auditor appointee on the Board earlier in the week. We look forward to having him join us at our retreat in May.

 

2.  AAG Report

No AAG reports were given.

 

3.  Other Staff Reports

 

No staff reports were given.

 

G.   Public Comment/Board Member Comment

Lynn Hendrickson, Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, commented that she likes the Learning Management Services online ethics training provided through the Department of Enterprise Services.

H.   Executive/Closed Session

At 9:45 a.m. the Board moved into Executive Session, immediately followed by Closed Session to deliberate on quasi-judicial matters. 

At 10:30 a.m. the Board returned to regular session and reported the following:

 

Motion 15-004 Moved by Vice Chair Dudek Ross, seconded by Member Simmons:

 

The Board accepts the following Stipulated Facts, Conclusions and Orders as presented:

 

·         EEB Case No. 2014-003 Ken Noland

·         EEB Case No. 2014-037 Marie Harris

·         EEB Case No. 2014-038 Kami Robinson

·         EEB Case No. 2014-047 Chris Voigt

·         EEB Case No. 2014-071 Dan Horvath

·         EEB Case No. 2014-072 Dawn Swanstrom

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

Motion 15-005 Moved by Vice Chair Dudek Ross, seconded by Member Singla:

 

The Board finds Reasonable Cause in EEB Case No. 2013-037 Loueta Johnson, EEB Case No. 2014-065 Erika Hanson, EEB Case No. 2014-043 Greg Stevens, EEB Case No. 2014-044 Frances MacDonald-Davis and EEB Case No. 2014-045 Melody Matthews.

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

Motion 15-006 Moved by Chair Marsh, seconded by Member Singla:

 

The Board finds Mary Lee Root, EEB Case 2014-056 in Default.

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

I.     Miscellaneous Matters/Adjournment

There being no miscellaneous matters, the meeting was adjourned at 10:32 a.m.

 

Approved by the Board 5/8/15