KINGSTON - After three Democratic lawmakers have refused to step down from the Law Enforcement Center Project Committee, committee Chairman Michael Stock has called on the county's Board of Ethics to investigate whether the meeting the trio had with the state Comptroller's Office last month violates their duties as county Legislators.
In a letter to Ethics Board Chairman Robert Aiello, also a county legislator, Stock, R-Woodstock, asks the board to render an opinion on whether Tracey Bartels, D-Gardiner, Peter Kraft, D-Glenford, and Richard Parete, D-Accord, violated the Ulster County Code of Ethics when they met with auditors from the state Comptroller's Office auditing the Law Enforcement Center project last month.
Penalties for breaching the county Code of Ethics include removal from public office, suspension from office, or a fine.
"Based upon their own acknowledgment that a private meeting took place where information previously undisclosed to county officials regarding the Law Enforcement Center Project was revealed to sources that could directly influence their personal interests clearly calls into question their ethical conduct and potential breech of the Ulster County Code of Ethics," Stock said in a press release.
Stock could not be reached for comment.
The state Comptroller's Office pulled the two auditors off of the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center audit shortly after they met with the three lawmakers, saying that meeting in Democratic headquarters with Democratic Committee Chair John Parete present was an "error in judgment" that could threaten the "independent and non-partisan nature" of the investigation.
Aiello, R-Saugerties, said he's asked the County Attorney's Office to render a ruling on whether Stock's charge is within the committee's purview.
"The central focus of the Ulster County Board of Ethics is to render advisory opinions," he said. "It's not court."
Aiello said even if the board did render an opinion that favored Stock's assertions, the three lawmakers would not necessarily have to adhere to that opinion, unless the committee found more than an "appearance of impropriety."
Minority Leader David Donaldson, D-Kingston, said the legislators were giving testimony to auditors, and their only lapse in judgment was having the session at Democratic headquarters.