'Reform' election commissioner fined by ethics board
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
An agreement says Commissioner Singer violated campaign laws, and will be fined $500.
Schmidt and Singer in happier times.
City Commissioner Stephanie Singer, whose office administers elections in Philadelphia, has agreed to a settlement with the Board of Ethics for violating local ethics laws.
According to a copy of the agreement distributed by the Ethics Board yesterday, Singer instructed several subordinates to compile "detailed election data" last year. That data was then posted on the Commissioner's official web site, as well as a separate campaign website operated by Singer.
Because the work of compiling the data was carried out by city employees on the job, but used by Singer on a website where she also solicits political donations, the Ethics Board determined that the Commissioner had violated the city's ethics code. The code specifically prohibits a "city officer" from taking any official actions that would affect a financial interest they have — such as ordering employees to put together data for a privately run website that is also used for political fundraising.
The Ethics Board also found that in October 2013 Singer had sent out an email soliciting campaign contributions to a list of addresses that included an employee of the Commissioner's office, violating a seperate provision in the city charter.
The agreement states that while Singer could be fined upwards of $1,300 for both violations, she would only receive a $500 fine, due to her cooperation with the Ethics Board's investigation.
Singer, a Democrat who ran on a platform of "cleaning up" the city's election board, was in the news earlier in the week for accusing an underling of fellow Commissioner Al Schmidt of issuing "illegal" election certificates. Schmidt has since denied wrongdoing, and suggested the accusation was a smokescreen to distract from Singer's impending ethics violations.
