Ethics panel grows to five

It’s been a year since the Spokane City Council approved a new ethics policy and an ethics committee to enforce it.

The fifth member of that seven-member committee, Gonzaga University professor Ron Large, was confirmed by the council on Monday. Four others were confirmed last week.

The council is still awaiting a sixth nomination from Mayor Dennis Hession. Once the six appointees are seated, they will convene to choose a seventh member.

The ethics policy and panel were created last January in response to the conduct of former Mayor Jim West, who was recalled by voters in 2005 over allegations that he used his office to solicit dates.

Some council members were critical of Hession for taking so long to come up with nominees for the panel.

“It’s obscene it’s taken this long,” said Councilman Al French, a proponent of the ethics policy last year.

He said the delay shows that Hession is not committed to the ethics policy.

Hession on Monday said he is as much of a supporter of the ethics policy as anyone at City Hall, and was a leader in developing the policy during the months leading up to West’s recall.

“I was one of the people who was involved in developing the ethics ordinance when I was on the council,” Hession said.

Hession, the former council president, was appointed mayor by the council in late 2005 after West’s recall. His term expires at the end of this year.

The mayor said the delay in seating the panel occurred for a number of reasons. He had to work with council members to come up with nominees, and then interview each of the candidates. Also, Hession last year submitted names of two non-city residents to sit on the panel, but withdrew them when council members resisted the idea of allowing non-city residents on the panel.

The ethics ordinance requires that appointees be a college faculty member with expertise in ethics, personnel or human resources; a person with a professional or academic background in the legal profession; or a businessperson with experience in human resources and personnel. Large teaches religion and ethics at Gonzaga.

Last Tuesday, the council confirmed four other members to the ethics panel. They are George Iranon, assistant director of Career Path Services; Nancy Isserlis, an attorney with Winston & Cashatt; Donna Kuhn, a retired resident; and John P. Robideaux, president of Strategic Business Planning and Marketing Direction.

Voters last fall approved a charter amendment streamlining the process for removing a city elected official. Under that amendment, the ethics committee would have to find that an elected official committed a violation involving moral turpitude and then recommend recall to the City Council. The council would then have to vote to place the recall before voters with at least six of the seven council members in favor.

The ethics policy also covers top non-elected city officials and members of boards and commissions. Prohibited conduct includes using a city position for personal benefit, improper use of city property or personnel, and accepting or giving favors, gifts or gratuities that are of greater than nominal value.

Some officials are pushing to extend the ordinance to all city employees through agreements with their collective bargaining units.