HomeMy WebLinkAbout797 MorningstarIn re: Raymond D. Morningstar : File Docket: 85233191C
. Date Decided:
: Date Mailed: 6/10/91
Before:
aA 11,S,
A -1
STATE ETHICS COMMISSION
308 FINANCE BUILDING
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17120
Helena G.
Robert W.
Dennis C.
James M.
Daneen E.
Austin M.
Hughes, Chair
Brown, Vice Chair
Harrington
Howley
Reese
Lee
The State Ethics Commission received a complaint regarding a
possible violation of the State Ethics Act, No. 170 of 1978, 65 P.S.
401 et. seq. Written notice, of the specific allegation(s) was served
at the commencement of the investigation. A Findings Report was
issued and served, upon completion of the investigation, which
constituted the Complaint by the Investigation Division. An Answer
was not filed and a hearing was deemed waived. The record is
complete. This adjudication of the Commission is hereby issued which
sets forth the individual Allegations, Findings of Fact, Discussion,
Conclusions of Law and Order.
This adjudication is final and will be made available as a public
document fifteen days after issuance. However, reconsideration may be
requested which will defer public release of this adjudication pending
action on the request by the Commission. A request for
reconsideration, however, does not affect the finality of this
adjudication. A reconsideration request must be received at this
Commission within fifteen days of issuance and must include a detailed
explanation of the reasons as to why reconsideration should be granted
in conformity with 51 Pa. Code §2.38.
The files in this case will remain confidential in accordance
with Section 8(a) of the Ethics Act, 65 P.S. 408(a) during the fifteen
day period and no one unless the right to challenge this Order is
waived, may violate confidentiality by releasing, discussing or
circulating this Order. However, confidentiality does not preclude
discussing this case with an attorney at law.
Any person who violates confidentiality of the Ethics Act is
guilty of a misdemeanor subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 or
imprisonment for not more than one year, 65 P.S. 409(e).
Mr. Raymond D. Morningstar
Page 2
, I. ALLEGATION:
ADJUDICATION
That you, a PennDOT Maintenance Manager for Huntingdon County,
violated the following provisions of the State Ethics Act (Act
170 of 1978), when you failed to disclose on your Statement of
Financial Interests supplemental income received from your
surveying business:
II. FINDINGS:
Section 5. Statement of financial interests.
(b) The statement shall include the following
information for the prior calendar year with regard to
the person required to file the statement and members
of his immediate family:
(5) The name and address of any person who is the
direct or indirect source of income totalling in the
aggregate $500.00 or more. However, this provision
shall now be construed to require the divulgence of
confidential information protected by statute for
existent professional codes of ethics.
(8) Any office, directorship, or employment of any
nature whatsoever in any business entity.
(9) Any financial interests in any legal entity
engaged in business for profit.
1. Raymond Morningstar is employed as the Assistant County
Maintenance Manager, PennDOT Maintenance District, 9 -5,
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
a. He has been employed with PennDOT since 1965.
b. Morningstar was previously employed as a County
Maintenance Manager.
2. As a County Maintenance Manager, Morningstar was responsible
for the development of long range plans and programs for the
Highway Maintenance Unit to accomplish normal and emergency
highway and bridge maintenance, construction and
reconstruction activities. The position also involved the
development of short range plans; the review of work
schedules; the organization of specialized and general
maintenance crews; the control of materials; equipment and
supplies; the administration of contracts to accomplish
Mr. Raymond D. Morningstar
Page 3
maintenance work; and the supervision of garage, office and
field activities.
3. Morningstar has had a surveying business for the last 16
years.
a. The surveying activities are confined to evenings
and Saturdays and generally is related to
residential surveying work.
b. Morningstar mainly deals with private individuals
and local farmers.
c. He earns a gross income in excess of $1,000.00
annually from this employment.
4. On February 28, 1975, Raymond Morningstar submitted a
request for supplemental employment to PennDOT Bureau of
Personnel.
a. Morningstar requested outside employment as a
self- employed surveyor.
b. The type of work described was supervising the
running of preliminary and final property lines;
setting corners for property surveys; staking -out
buildings; setting grades for new homes., garages
and barns; and running elevations for contours and
topographic surveys.
c. The work was to be performed on Saturdays from
6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
d. On March 12, 1975, the Conflict of Interest
Committee of PennDOT determined that the outside
employment did not conflict with Morningstar's
departmental duties and had no objection to him
continuing.
e. The outside employment was approved subject to
conditions:
"Your after hours employment is approved
under the following conditions. If your
after hours employment in any way interferes
with your regular work or exhausts you to the
point where you cannot function efficiently,
or if this work could in any way be construed
as a conflict of interest, it will be
necessary for you to make an immediate
Mr. Raymond D. Morningstar
Page 4
decision as to which segment of employment
you will choose as a principal job."
5. On August 31, 1984, Management Directive No. 515.18
regarding supplementary employment was issued at the
direction of Murray Dickman, Secretary of Administration.
a. The new directive stated that Commonwealth
employees in departments, boards, commissions and
independent agencies under the governor's
jurisdiction, and who are affected by the
Governor's Code of Conduct and are full -time
employees who work outside of the Commonwealth,
are required to fill out a new Supplementary
Employment Request Form, which was form STD -355.
6. A letter dated February 1, 1985 was attached to all PennDOT
employees' pay stubs from the Director of Personnel for
PennDOT, Sharon Wright, regarding the new policy of
supplemental employment.
a. Employees with outside employment were required to
complete Form STD -355 and return it to the Bureau
of Personnel within (15) days after receipt of the
notice.
7. Morningstar completed the STD -355 on May 25, 1990 and
submitted it to PennDOT, Bureau of Personnel.
a. The form requested supplemental employment
approval to operate a small land surveying service
out of his home.
b. The work was to be performed on Saturdays, eight
hours a day.
c. On June 14, 1990, the request for supplemental
employment was approved.
8. Morningstar filed Statements of Financial Interests as
follows:
a.
Calendar Year Date Filed
1983 04/27/84
1984 05/01/85
1985 04/24/86
1986 05/15/87
1987 04/20/88
Mr. Raymond D. Morningstar
Page 5
b. For the item "Direct or Indirect Sources of
Income ", income from the survey business was not
reported.
9. Morningstar also submitted Code of Conduct Statement of
Financial Interests pursuant to Management Directive 205.9,
amended, for the calendar years 1983 through 1987.
a. The supplemental surveying business was not
reported as employment.
10. Morningstar filed a Statement of Financial Interests for the
1988 calendar year on April 11, 1989. Attached to that form
was a memo:
a. To Whom It May Concern:
It was recently pointed out to me that I made an
oversight in preparing my Statement of Financial
Interest, form SEC -1, and I would like to correct
that error at this time.
This error was in Section 11 (Direct or Indirect
Source of Income), and the second entry should
read in cases: Self.
In Section 14 (Office or Directorship or
Employment in Any Business), should read: Land
Measuring /Self Employed.
In Section 15 (Financial Interest in Any Legal
Entity for Profit), should read respectively:
Year Income
1987 $3,424.00
1986 3,310.00
1985 1,112.00
1984 819.00
1983 881.00
1982 890.00
1981 3,401.00
If you have any questions concerning this matter,
please feel free to contact me.
11. On March 14, 1990, the Ethics Commission received, through
mail correspondence, amended Statements of Financial
Mr. Raymond D. Morningstar
Page 6
Interests for Raymond Morningstar for the calendar years
1985, 1986 and 1987. The amended statements indicated as
follows:
a. Calendar Year:
1985
Statement Date:
February 23, 1990
Sources of Income:
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation /Self
Office, Directorship or Employment in Any
Business:
Land Measuring
Financial Interests in Any Legal Entity in
Business for Profit:
Financial Interests in 1985 - $1,120.00
b. Calendar Year:
1986
Statement Date:
February 23, 1990
Sources of Income:
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation /Self
Office, Directorship or Employment in Any
Business:
Land Measuring
Financial Interests in Any Legal Entity in
Business For Profit:
Financial Interests. 1986 - $3,310.00
c. Calendar Year:
Mr. Raymond D. Morningstar
Page 7
1987
Statement Date:
February 23, 1990
Sources of Income:
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation /Self
Office, Directorship or Employment in Any
Business:
Land Measuring
Financial Interests in Any Legal Entity ip
Business For Profit:
Financial Interests in 1987 - $3,424.00
12. Morningstar provided a statement to the State Ethics
Commission investigators.
a. The first mistake he made, concerning not listing
the income he made as a surveyor on his Statements
of Financial Interests, occurred back in 1979.
III. DISCUSSION:
b. His supervisor at the time, Jim Anderson, never
instructed him to list the income he made as a
surveyor.
c. PennDOT has always been aware of his outside
employment.
Raymond Morningstar, hereinafter Morningstar, as an
Assistant County Maintenance Manager for PennDot is a "public
employee" as that term is defined under the Ethics Act. 65 P.S.
402; 51 Pa. Code 1.1; Fact Finding 2. As such, his conduct is
subject to the provisions of the Ethics Act and the restrictions
therein are applicable to him.
Initially, it is noted that Section 5 of Act 9 of June 26,
1989 provides, in part, as follows:
"This amendatory act shall not apply to
violations committed prior to the effective date
of this act, and causes of action initiated for
Mr. Raymond D. Morningstar
Page 8
such violations shall be governed by the prior
law, which is continued in effect for that purpose
as if this act were not in force. For the
purposes of this section, a violation was
committed prior to the effective date of this act
if any elements of the violation occurred prior
thereto."
Since the occurrences in this case transpired prior to the
effective date of Act 9 (June 26, 1989), we must apply the
provisions of Act 170 of October 4, 1978, P.L. 883 to determine
whether the Ethics Act was violated.
In the instant matter we must determine whether Morningstar
violated Section 5(b)(5), (8) and (9) of the Ethics Act quoted
above, which requires a public official /employee to include the
name and address of any person who is the direct or indirect
source of income totalling $500 in aggregate or more, any office,
directorship or employment in any business entity and lastly, any
financial interest in any legal entity engaged in business for
profit.
Factually, in addition to his Commonwealth employment,
Morningstar also had a surveying business for the last 16 years.
Morningstar performed the surveying activities during weekends
and evenings for private individuals and local farmers. The
income to Morningstar from his private business activities
exceeded $500 for each of the years 1981 through 1987.
On February 28, 1975 Morningstar submitted a request for
supplemental employment to the PennDot Bureau of Personnel which
granted his request with the proviso that the outside employment
could not interfere with his regular work or affect his work
efficiency. Thereafter, on August 31, 1984, Management Directive
No. 515.18 from the Office of Secretary of Administration
required that employees who had outside work were required to
complete a STD -355 Form. By letter dated February 1, 1985 the
Personnel Director of PennDot attached to all employees' pay
stubs a requirement that they complete the form STD -355 and
return it to the Personnel Bureau within 15 days. Morningstar
did not complete the STD -355 until May 25, 1990.
Morningstar filed Statements of Financial Interests (FIS)
for the calendar years 1983 through 1987 but did not list the
income from his surveying business on any of his statements.
Thereafter, on Morningstar's 1988 calendar year FIS, he did list
"self" as a source of income, land measuring as an office,
directorship or employment in any business and the amounts he
earned from 1981 through 1987 in Section 15 of the FIS dealing
with financial interests in any legal entity for profit. In
Mr. Raymond D. Morningstar
Page 9
addition, Morningstar made a notation on the FIS that he failed
to include such information in prior statements do to a
"oversight" that he wished to "correct - -- at this time." On
March 14, 1990, Morningstar filed three amended FIS's for the
calendar years 1985, 1986 and 1987 wherein he listed, in part,
sources of income as "self ", office, directorship or employment
in any business as land measuring and specific dollar amounts
under the category of financial interests in any legal entity in
business for profit.
In applying the above quoted provisions of Sections 5(b)(5),
(8) and (9) of the Ethics Act to the above facts, we find that
Morningstar violated that section of the Ethics Act regarding the
FIS's that he filed for the years 1981 through 1987. In each of
those years Morningstar had income from his surveying business in
excess of $500 yet failed to report, or timely report, such
financial interests as a direct or indirect source of income, as
an office, directorship or employment in any business and a
financial interest in any legal entity in business for profit.
Although Morningstar filed amended FIS's for the calendar years
1985 through 1987, he failed to do so for the calendar years 1981
through 1984. In light of the above, Morningstar is directed
within 30 days of the issuance of this Order to file amended
FIS's for the calendar years 1981 through 1984. Failure to
comply with the foregoing will result in the referral of this
matter to the appropriate law enforcement authority.
SV. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW:
1. Raymond Morningstar as an Assistant County Maintenance
Manager for PennDot is a public employee subject to the
provisions of the Ethics Act.
2. Morningstar violated Section 5(b)(5), (8) and (9) of the
Ethics Act by failing to timely report his surveying
business under the categories of direct or indirect source
of income; office, directorship or employment in any
business entity and any financial interests in any legal
entity engaged in business for profit.
In re: Raymond D. Morningstar : File Docket: 89 -037 -C
: Date Decided: 5/23/91
: Date Mailed: 6/10/91
ORDER No. 797
1. Raymond Morningstar as Assistant County Maintenance Manager
in PennDot violated Section 5(b)(5), (8) and (9) of the
Ethics Act by failing to timely report his surveying
business under the categories of direct or indirect source
of income; office, directorship or employment in any
business entity and any financial interests in any legal
entity engaged in business for profit.
2. Morningstar is directed within 30 days of the issuance of
this order to file amended Financial Interests Statements
for the calendar years 1981 through 1984 which will lists
his surveying business as a direct or indirect source of
income; the office, directorship or employment in any
business entity and the financial interests in any legal
entity engaged in business for profit.
3. Failure to comply with the provisions of numbered paragraph
two will result the referral of this matter to the
appropriate law enforcement authority.
BY THE COMMISSION,
. )9 ;).
HELENA G. HO , CHAIR