Council proposes new ethics rules

City Council surprised Mayor Nutter before his budget address yesterday by introducing ethics legislation that would, among other things, require lobbyists to register with the city and regulate political committees used for legal defense, inaugurations, and transitions into office.

Nutter and others welcomed, with caution, the bills and resolutions introduced by Majority Leader Marian B. Tasco and cosigned by 14 of her 16 colleagues.

Nutter and the chairman of the Mayor's Task Force on Ethics and Campaign Finance Reform, however, raised concerns that the legislation also would free city employees to practice politics outside of work and keep the city's inspector general out of Council's business.

The bills are meant to address the task force's recommendations in its final report in December, said Councilman Bill Green, one of the legislation's authors.

The bills would require registration of lobbyists; address post-campaign political contributions to inauguration and transition committees; formally establish in the City Charter the Office of Inspector General and redefine its authority; eliminate the Board of Ethics' "death penalty" power, which allows the board to seek to have candidates disqualified; and allow city employees to participate in political activity outside of work.

The bill to allow political activity and to establish the inspector general in the City Charter would require a referendum, targeted for May.

The measures leave out many of the more controversial aspects of ethics bills introduced in 2008 by Councilman Frank Rizzo. His bills would strictly regulate nepotism, outside employment, acceptance of gifts, lobbying registration, and campaign contributions within an election cycle. Rizzo held his bills at the mayor's request until after the task force issued its report.

"We've introduced six or seven bills that help complete the ethics bills that are already on the floor," Green said.

Rizzo did not see it that way.

"I think that we could have done a better job at this working together, but if Councilman Green feels like going off on his own, that's his prerogative," Rizzo said.

Rizzo's top aide, office manager Stewart Graham, said limiting contributions by election cycle instead of calendar year and restricting outside employment had been dropped from the ethics package originally circulated by Green, Tasco, and others.

That leaves Rizzo with six bills that may be heard at the same time as Tasco's eight.

The Committee of Seventy has advocated Rizzo's bills, but the watchdog organization's president, Zack Stalberg, said yesterday that he did not necessarily regard the two sets as being in conflict.

"It's a happy surprise that they're willing to wrap their arms around some improvement of the ethics laws right now," he said, adding that his committee would give the bills "a closer look."

Stalberg said the city's total ban on political activity by employees and board appointees, including the planting of lawn signs on their property, should be updated from the 1951 charter ban, written when "everyone on city payroll was an active member of a political party."

That aspect of the legislation is sure to run up against Nutter, who has staked his position against allowing political activity.

Currently, the inspector general has no jurisdiction over Council or the city's row offices. The legislation proposed yesterday would grant jurisdiction over the row offices, not Council.

Nutter has also sought for the inspector general to have more authority, and during his first weeks in office in 2008 he offered a bill that would limit Council's control of the inspector general's budget and put Council members and staff under the inspector general's jurisdiction.

"We are pleased to hear that City Council is moving forward on the task force's recommendations," task force chairman Michael Schwartz said, adding that he had not fully reviewed the legislation.

"We hope, however, that City Council will carefully consider whether an independent inspector general will be most effective if she has jurisdiction over all city employees and officials," Schwartz said.

Nutter's spokesman, Doug Oliver, said, "We feel that the rule that bans political activity has served the city well, and ultimately believe that we don't need politics in the delivery of public services."

Tasco said all Council members had been invited to participate in the process.

Only Rizzo and Jannie L. Blackwell, who has shown little patience for new ethics rules, did not sign the bill.

No public hearing date has been scheduled.