|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
Also this issue: A Fight to the Death War Path Retention Dimension Safe Street? The Bell Curve |
|
|
|
|
 |
|||||||||
May 1- 7, 2003
political notebook
Last Friday, Vernon Anastasio, who still has hopes that he will be on the Democratic primary ballot, handed out copies of incumbent Councilman Frank DiCicco’s statement of financial interest forms to anyone who would take them.
Anastasio is all too familiar with this form because he was thrown off the ballot by Common Pleas Court (and is not a candidate at this time) for failing to disclose his 2002 income when he filed that form. Anastasio, who was employed by the city and state last year, said it was a mistake to claim he had no income and corrected the form. A voter in the district, Sarah DeRose, successfully challenged his candidacy in Common Pleas Court. He appealed to the Commonwealth Court, which upheld the lower court's decision.
Anastasio has now appealed to the State Supreme Court and is awaiting their decision. He can still campaign while the matter is under appeal.
Anastasio pulled DiCicco's financial interest statements, for both current and previous years, and declared that DiCicco made his own errors.
Anastasio claimed that DiCicco did not list his income properly in previous years. DiCicco was first elected in 1995, but like all elected city and state office holders, must file annually.
DiCicco lists his sources of income for last year, including his City Council position, real estate sales jobs with Allan Domb Realty and Market Place Realty and his consulting positions and investment properties.
Anastasio said that in 1999 and 1998, DiCicco made clerical mistakes in his financial disclosure forms. While DiCicco listed all his sources of income for that period, he did not list his Council position on the "source of income" lines, only the "occupation" lines.
"How dare he accuse me of a clerical error when he has made them himself?" asked Anastasio.
DiCicco said his forms were filled out properly. "My opponent is giving misleading information," said DiCicco.
What is this all-important financial disclosure form? It originates from the state's Ethics Commission. Failure to disclose sources of direct or indirect income is considered a fatal defect in the filing. (Only candidates for mayor, however, need to disclose amounts of income.)
"The form is confusing," said Joe Vignola, the First District Councilman who preceded DiCicco. Vignola is also an attorney, a former chairman of the city's Election Commission, the former City Controller and a U.S. Senate candidate. He is now the executive director of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority. Anastasio worked for Vignola when Vignola was the First District Councilman.
Vignola pointed out that Section 10 of the form, which calls for direct or indirect sources of income, has conflicting instructions. For example, a candidate must list all income exceeding $1,300 including salaries, interest income, rental income, royalties, dividends, capital gains, rewards, severance or prize-winning payments. The form says to not include any gifts, governmentally mandated payments or retirement, pension or annuity payments.
But isn't the salary of a City Councilperson considered to be governmentally mandated?
Council members include a wide array of details in their forms.
Councilman Rick Mariano lists his source of income as coming from the city of Philadelphia and from IBEW Local 98.
Councilman Frank Rizzo attaches a long list of all of his sources, including the city of Philadelphia and all of his bank accounts, stocks and mutual funds.
Councilman Jim Kenney lists his Council job under direct or indirect sources of income and his consulting position at the Vitetta architectural firm. He also lists the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches a class, and he is a board member of Independence Blue Cross, Keystone Health Plan East and PSB Bancorp.
Councilman Wilson Goode, who lists his first name on the form as Willie, lists his only source of income as the City of Philadelphia.
Councilwoman Joan Krajewski lists her sources of income as the city and her bank.
Councilman Brian O’Neill's sources come from both the city and the law firm of Fox Rothschild O'Brien & Frankel.
Councilman Angel Ortiz lists the city as a source of income and his real estate interests in the section marked "Real Estate Interests."
Some Council members used versions of the form that had been replaced, in which the order of questions was changed, so the current instructions would not fit.
The State Supreme Court’s decision in Anastasio’s case may hinge on whether the statement of financial interests form is amendable. If it is not, then it could cause a lot of problems for office holders who did not file their forms properly and are challenged.
Deputy City Representative Bonnie Grant spoke candidly about her experience with breast cancer and her decision to use the controversial neoadjuvant therapy at the fourth annual International Consensus Conference hosted by the Breast Health Institute, which is based in Philadelphia. Thirty-six breast doctors and surgeons from around the world convened last Friday at the Sofitel Hotel to discuss the latest research on the treatment of breast cancer, including neoadjuvant therapy for advanced breast cancer tumors. Grant is now cancer-free and will chair the 2003 "Give the Shirt Off Your Back" gala in October, which benefits the Breast Health Institute. For more information, call the Institute at 215-732-2300.
-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there
