Tag: Massachusetts State Ethics Commission

School Official Disciplined for Misuse of LexisNexis

The Massachusetts State Ethics Commission fined Mark Rivera, the former Lawrence School Department Urban Affairs Liaison and Special Assistant to the School Superintendent, for misuse of his access rights to LexisNexis.

The Lawrence School Department purchased access to the LexisNexis database so Rivera could obtain contact information for parents no longer living in the district, and contact parents and students regarding attendance issues. However, Rivera misused his School Department access to conduct “hundreds of searches of non-public information on individuals, including state and local elected officials, professional athletes and Hollywood celebrities….”

Massachusetts General Law chapter 268a §23(b)(2) prohibits a public official from using their official position to “to secure for himself or others unwarranted privileges or exemptions which are of substantial value and which are not properly available to similarly situated individuals.”

Rivera used his official position to gain access to the database for private purposes.

Running database checks on Lawrence police Chief John Romero, David Ortiz, Johnny Damon, Michael Chiklis and Hugh Laurie cost Rivera $5,000.

This is not the only trouble for Rivera. He was also indicted on seven counts of larceny and was forced to resign in April. His boss, suspended Lawrence Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy, was recently indicted for fraud, embezzlement and possession of alcohol on school premises.

The Lawrence Public Schools system is among the poorest districts in Massachusetts. Almost 83 percent of its student body is classified as economically disadvantage.

Sources:

Norfolk Developer Accused Of Ethics Breach

Michele Morgan Bolton of the Boston Globe reports that Jack Scott, president of Pine Creek Development Corp., was accused last week of violating state law by allegedly offering a free week at his Pennsylvania cabin to the chairman of the town’s Conservation Commission while he had an application before the board: Developer Accused of Ethics Breach.

According to the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission’s press release:

The Ethics Commission’s Enforcement Division, in an Order to Show Cause issued on November 18, 2008, alleges that Norfolk property developer Jack Scott violated sections 2(a) and 3(a) of G.L. c. 268A, the state’s conflict of interest law, by offering a free week at his Pennsylvania cabin to the chairman of the Norfolk Conservation Commission (“ConCom”) while Scott had an application pending before the ConCom.

A public hearing will be scheduled within 90 days.

According to the Order to Show Cause, in May 2006, Scott filed an application with the ConCom to build a single-family home on Applewood Road. On May 12, 2006, while his application was pending, Scott sent an e-mail to the ConCom chairman offering a week’s stay at his cabin. A week’s stay at the cabin cost an estimated $700. The OTSC alleges that, “Scott offered the weeklong cabin stay to the ConCom chair to facilitate and/or reward the ConCom chair for the ConCom’s approval” of his application. The ConCom chairman did not accept Scott’s offer.

Section 2(a) of G.L. c. 268A, the conflict of interest law, in relevant part, prohibits anyone from corruptly offering anything of value to a municipal employee with intent to influence any official act or act within his official responsibility. Section 3(a) prohibits anyone, otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty, from directly or indirectly offering anything of substantial value to any municipal employee for or because of any official act performed or to be performed by such an employee.

The Boston Globe story