WASHINGTON STATE

 EXECUTIVE ETHICS BOARD

1110 Capitol Way S– 4th Floor Video Conference Room – Olympia, WA

 

September 17, 2010

Special Meeting Minutes

 

 

A.   Preliminary Business

1.    Roll Call

The regular meeting of the Washington State Executive Ethics Board (EEB) was called to order by Chair Linnaea Jablonski at 9:00 a.m.  In attendance were Vice Chair Michael Connelly, Members Neil Gorrell, Martin Biegelman and Matthew Williams III.  Board staff in attendance included:  Executive Director Melanie de Leon, Senior Counsel Jerry Anderson, Senior Assistant Attorney General Mary Tennyson, Administrative Officer Ruthann Bryant and Investigator Sue Jones. 

 

2.    Approval of Agenda

Melanie de Leon noted that the agenda was revised to include two agency requests for policy reviews.

 

Motion 10-027 Moved by Member Gorrell, seconded by Vice Chair Connelly:

 

The Board approves the September 17, 2010 agenda as revised.

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

3.    Approval of the July 9, 2010 Meeting Minutes

        

Motion 10-028 Moved by Vice Chair Connelly, seconded by Member Biegelman:

 

The Board approves the July 9, 2010 minutes as presented.

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

B.   Enforcement Matters

   Approval of Stipulated Facts, Conclusion and Order

EEB Case No. 2009-063 (Chapman)

Sue Joes briefed the Board on the proposed stipulation and order in the matter of Brandon Chapman. Mr. Chapman agreed that he violated RCW 42.52.160 when he accessed sports related, social networking and retail sites. The stipulation proposes a penalty of $500.

EEB Case No. 2009-009

Sue Jones briefed the Board on the proposed stipulation and order in the matter of Al Hunton.  Mr. Hunton agreed that he violated RCW 42.52.160 when he used his position to obtain students’ personal cell phones to access and download their personal photographs onto his state computer.  He also admitted that he had been using his state laptop to download pornographic images from adult websites.  The stipulation proposes a penalty of $6,500.

 EEB Case No. 2010-012

Ms. Jones also briefed the Board on the proposed stipulation and order in the matter of Connie Sakamoto.  Ms. Sakamoto agreed that she violated RCW 42.52.160 for using three separate state computers for personal gain.  In addition she used state provided laptops and desktops to run her private transcription business.  The stipulation proposes a penalty of $10,000 with $2,000 suspended.

EEB Case No. 2010-014

Ms. Jones briefed the Board on the proposed stipulation and order in the matter of Arden Gray.  Ms. Gray agreed that she violated RCW 42.52.160 for using three agency provided computers for personal gain. Of these three computers, two laptops showed no evidence of University-related activity at all, only personal use.  The stipulation proposes a penalty of $6,000 with $2,000 suspended.

         The Board deferred action until after closed session.

Executive Director Dismissals

EEB Case 2009-004(Slattery), EEB Case 2009-005 (Hamaker), EEB Case 2009-056 (Ghavami), EEB Case 2009-058 (Loshbough), EEB Case 2009-059 (Lofgren), EEB Case 2010-001 (Sheehan), EEB Case 2010-002 (Lim), EEB Case 2010-005 (Redman), EEB Case 2010-006 (Chen), EEB Case 2010-007 (Gore), EEB Case 2010-009 (Zenker), EEB Case 2010-010 (Edwards), EEB Case 2010-064 (Klinger) and EEB Case 2010-049 (Lee)

            Melanie de Leon briefly summarized 14 Executive Director dismissals.

 

C.      Advisory Opinion Review

Melanie de Leon briefly summarized honorarium and use of state resources previously discussed at the May and July meetings.  She also provided a draft advisory opinion which would prohibit the use of state resources to prepare the presentation for which they would receive an honorarium. 

 

The Board requested that the Ethics Advisory Group review the proposed update prior to Board approval.  Ms. de Leon will present the draft to the group at their September 27th meeting and the Board will review the draft at their November meeting.

 

D.   Performance Measure Discussion

Ms. de Leon reported on a performance measures plan, highlighting plans to create surveys for upper level management, human resources managers and state employees.  She also noted some upcoming changes to the website to include a blog and a public survey.

E.   Policy Reviews

Melanie de Leon summarized a draft Utilities and Transportation Commission policy regarding Fundraising for Charitable Purposes. She noted that raffles are permitted under RCW 42.52.820 and the policy prohibits raffles.

Dan Kermode, Senior Policy Advisor, was present and clarified that their agency has chosen not to allow raffles.

Motion 10-029 Moved by Member Gorrell, seconded by Vice Chair Connelly:

 

The Board approves the utilities and Transportation Commission Fundraising for Charitable Purposes policy as presented.

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

Melanie de Leon also summarized a draft Office of the Attorney General policy regarding Social Networking.

The Board requested that the Office of the Attorney General replace the word “business” with “agency,” spell out their values acronym and provide copies of the records retention policy and Social Networking Use Agreement for their review prior to approval.  The draft policy will be reviewed again at the November 12th meeting.

F.    Staff Reports

1.  Executive Director’s Report

Melanie de Leon congratulated Senior Counsel Jerry Anderson on his retirement and introduced Senior Assistant Mary Tennyson who will replace Mr. Anderson.  She also noted that there has been a change in the Board’s prosecutor and AAG Kate Reynolds has replaced Mickey Newberry.

 

2.  AAG Report

No AAG reports were given.

 

3.  Other Staff Reports

No staff reports were given.

 

G.   Public Comment/Board Member Comment

No public comments or board member comments were expressed.

H.   Closed Session

At 10:00 a.m. Chair Jablonski noted there were no executive session items and the Board moved into Closed Session to deliberate on quasi-judicial matters. 

At 10:16 a.m. the Board returned to regular session.  The Board reported the following:

 

Motion 10-030 Moved by Vice Chair Connelly, seconded by Member Gorrell:

 

The Board accepts the Stipulated Facts, Conclusions and Orders in EEB Case #2009-063, Brandon Chapman, EEB Case #2009-009, Al Hunton, EEB Case #2010-012, Connie Sakamoto and EEB Case #2010-014, Arden Gray, as presented.

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

I.      Miscellaneous Matters/Adjournment

There being no miscellaneous matters, the meeting was adjourned at 10:17 a.m.

 

Approved by the Board 11/12/10