City election official agrees to pay 4G fine for ethical violations

CITY COMMISSIONERS Chairman Anthony Clark has agreed to pay $4,000 in fines for ethics violations in connection with a pay raise given to his brother, who works in Clark's office.

Clark, 55, who heads a three-person panel that oversees elections in the city and earns about $134,000 a year, also agreed to take ethics training to brush up on the city's Ethics Code.

The concessions were part of a settlement agreement reached with the city Board of Ethics and made public yesterday.

And in the vein of only-in-Philly-politics, Clark embraced the outcome as a vindication.

"We are pleased with the settlement of what was essentially a technical violation of the Ethics Code," Clark wrote in a statement. "Most importantly, this settlement confirms that I had no involvement whatsoever in my brother's employment matters; and I did not exercise any influence over members of my staff."

In the settlement, Clark agreed to three violations of the city code: Failure to file a "disclosure and disqualification letter," alerting the city to a conflict of interest in regards to decisions that would affect his brother's pay; failure to remove himself from discussions involving his brother's pay; and failure to cooperate with the Ethics Board's investigation.

"We were pleased that we were able to resolve this matter," said Michael Cooke, director of enforcement for the Ethics Board. "We think that the settlement agreement is an appropriate resolution of the administrative enforcement proceeding that we initiated back in January. The admissions to the violations put this matter to rest . . . ."

In January, Shane Creamer Jr., executive director of the Ethics Board, alleged that Clark had orchestrated a raise for his brother, Alex Clark, who holds a low-level job in the commissioners' office, then threatened another employee on his staff if she cooperated with the investigation. The raise - since rescinded - boosts his brother's salary by about $4,700 a year, up from about $30,500.

The investigation grew out of a November 2013 complaint filed with the Ethics Board.

In a Jan. 22, 2015, "notice of administrative enforcement proceedings," Creamer detailed the findings of the investigation and recommended that the five-member Ethics Board fine Clark a total of $8,000 for four violations.

Instead, the two sides negotiated that Clark admit to three violations and pay $4,000 in fines. Clark's lawyer, Jimmie Moore, said yesterday that Clark was "very much satisfied."

"The Board of Ethics, often folks see them as the bogeyman, but they were highly professional, open and fair," Moore said. "It should be pointed out that [Clark] voluntarily offered to take additional ethics training. He wants to maintain the high standards of his office."

Moore yesterday withdrew a lawsuit filed on behalf of Clark against the Ethics Board. It had been filed shortly after Clark won the May 19 Democratic primary election even though he hadn't voted in five consecutive elections until the City Paper called him on it last fall.