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HomeMy WebLinkAbout742 ScanlonMr. James E. Scanlon c/o Eugene F. Scanlon, Esquire Cauley & Conflenti 1212 Manor Complex 564 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Re: 87 -099 -C Dear Mr. Scanlon: T' . r/ STATE ETHICS COMMISSION 308 FINANCE BUILDING HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17120 ORDER OF THE COMMISSION Order No. 742 Before: Helena G. Hughes, Chair Robert W. Brown, Vice Chair W. Thomas Andrews G. Sieber Pancoast Dennis C. Harrington James M. Howley Date Decided: February 22, 1990 Date Mailed: March 6. 1990 The State Ethics Commission received a complaint regarding you and a possible violation of the State Ethics Act, No. 170 of 1978, 65 P.S. 401 et. seq. You were notified in writing as to the commencement of the investigation and as to the specific allegation(s). The investigation has now been completed and a Findings Report was issued to you which constituted the Complaint by the Investigation Division of the State Ethics Commission. An Answer was filed and a hearing was held. The record is now completed. This Order of the Commission is hereby issued which sets forth the individual allegations, findings, discussion and conclusion as follows: I. Allegation: That you, a former Deputy Director of Allegheny County Computer Services Department, violated the following provisions of the Ethics Act (Act 170 of 1978) and State Ethics Commission regulations, when you accepted and failed to report, on Statements of Financial Interests, gifts from an individual and firm attempting to do business with your governmental body: Section 3. Restricted Activities (a) No public official or public employee shall use his public office or any confidential information received through his holding public Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 4 e. The estimated fee for the services rendered was between 45,000 and 55,000. 6. By way of memo dated June 24, 1983 from James E. Scanlon, Deputy Director of Computer Services to Scott O'Donnell, Chief Clerk, it is recommended that CTA, Ltd. be engaged to conduct the F.I.C.A. tax recovery. It is further recommended that such be provided quickly: a. The memo noted that the only options are to perform this task "in house" or through CTA or Arthur Young and Company. b. CTA is recommended because it had experience in this field and in that they had the personnel, expertise, and will do a complete job with little assistance from the county. c. It is noted that a list of customers was provided by CTA and they were being contacted. d. The memo further noted that the Commission percentage is high but there is no fee unless there is a recovery and there is no minimum fee. 7. Records of Allegheny County indicated a REQUEST FOR BOARD ACTION form dated July 29, 1983 from Scott O'Donnell, Chief Clerk. a. The request seeks board of Commissioners' approval of a contract between CTA, Ltd. and the county for the recovery of F.I.C.A. overpayments for the years 1979 -1981 at a cost of twenty -five percent (25 %) of the recovered funds. b. The recovery is estimated at $300,000. 8. Records of Allegheny County indicate that the County Department of Administration requested the Board of Commissioners' authorization and execution of a contract with CTA, Ltd, to assist the County in recovery of overpaid F.I.C.A. taxes at a cost of twenty -five percent (25 %) of the amount recovered. a. The request is detailed on the agenda for the meeting of the Board of Commissioners for August 4, 1983. (Item No. 875- 83). b. Estimated Revenue to County, $300,000. 9. By way of memo dated August 11, 1983 from Scott O'Donnell to all Department heads and row offices, it is advised that the Board of Commissioners authorized the contract between the county and CTA, Ltd. on August 4, 1983, for the recovery of the F.I.C.A. overpayments: Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 5 a. It is noted that any questions should be directed to Jim Scanlon. 10. By way of memo dated August 12, 1983, to Scott O'Donnell from James H. McLean, County Solicitor, a request is made for information regarding services to be rendered and payment schedules regarding the CTA agreement so that a contract could be prepared. 11. Records of Allegheny County indicated that contract number 5759, agreement number 19444, regarding the recovery of the F.I.C.A. taxes was forwarded to the county commissioners on September 26, 1983. 12. By agreement dated September 26, 1983, Allegheny County contracted with CTA, Ltd. for the purpose of recovering F.I.C.A. overpayments made on sick leave compensation. a. The recovery related to 1979 -1981 inclusive. b. The County agreed to provide work space and a telephone as well as access to pertinent records. c. CTA, Ltd., would review all relevant records, compute overpayments and perform other specified services. d. The County would be charged twenty -five percent (25 %) of the overpayment which is reimbursable to the county. e. The agreement was executed by the county commissioners, the county solicitor and assistant solicitor, the Director of Administration and a representative of CTA, Ltd. f. The agreement had been affirmed on August 4, 1983 by the County Commissioners at a meeting thereof. 13. By way of letter dated August 31, 1983, from Alan Stoneman to the Hotel Carlyle, New York, New York, payment was tendered for the use of two hotel rooms: a. The letter identified the occupants of the rooms (306 and 307) as the Scanlon family. b. The amount of the payment was $852.34. c. The date during which the rooms were utilized were August 6 - 7, 1983. 14. By way of letter dated September 8, 1983 to. John R. Torquato from Alan Stoneman, Torquato is advised that payment to the Hotel Carlyle has been made on behalf of CTA, Ltd. Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 6 a. The letter noted that a copy of the correspondence referenced in finding 13 above is enclosed. 15. Records of Allegheny County indicate the following statistics regarding the F.I.C.A. recovery as of December 30, 1985: Revenue to County Revenue to Employees Payment to CTA (25% of total refund) Total F.I.C.A. tax refund $417,357.63 $417,357.63 $278,237.74 $1,112,953.01 16. Records of Allegheny County Clerk indicate the following Statements of Financial Interests on file for you: a. Statement date: February 6, 1984. For calendar year: not noted. Source of Income (exceeding $500): Allegheny All other categories of financial interests: Position: Deputy Director Computer Division. b. Statement date: February 5, 1985. For calendar year: 1984. Source of Income (exceeding $500): Allegheny All other categories of financial interests: Position: Deputy Director Computer Division. c. Statement date: January 21, 1986. For calendar year: 1986. Source of Income (exceeding $500): Allegheny All other categories of financial interests: Position: Director, Elections Department. County. none. County. none. County. none. d. Statement date: April 21, 1987. For calendar year: 1986. Source of Income (exceeding $500): Allegheny County. All other categories of financial interests: none. Position: Director, Elections Department. 17. On October 26, 1987 you filed, through your attorney, an amended Statement of Financial Interests for calendar year 1983, at the offices of the State Ethics Commission: a. The statement is dated October 26, 1987 for calendar year 1983. b. Your position is noted as Deputy Director, Computer Division. Mx. James E. Scanlon Page 7 c. Allegheny County is identified as a source of income in excess of $500. This is the only source of income noted. d. CTA / Torquato, Newport Beach, CA is identified as a gift in excess of $200. e. All other categories of financial interests are noted as none. 18. As an addendum to the above referenced amended Statement of Financial Interests, you provided details regarding three gifts received from John Torquato as follows: a. Carlyle Hotel, New York City - August 6, 1983 - August 7, 1983: John Torquato, offered a friends apartment in New York City to me and my family for two (2) days saying that it belonged to his friend's company and was not used very often. One year later, August, 1984, the F.B.I. interrogated me and advised me that Torquato had paid for the accommodations. This was the first time that I became aware of this and John Torquato substantiated this on the witness stand during his trial in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. b. My wife received, in the mail, a 4 inch long by 2 inch high piece of crystal from John Torquato for Christmas 1983. I testified to this as a witness during the trial in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Value unknown. c. In October of 1983, I made a trip to CTA in California to review their work on the Allegheny County project and to make corrections to their computer output. The Allegheny County contract with CTA contained an item indicating that CTA would furnish their work to the county for review, corrections and update before final computer work was initiated. Mutual agreement between the County and John Torquato was for me to travel to California at CTA's expense to perform this function on site as opposed to the CTA delivering same to Allegheny County and then returning the work to California for final work steps. CTA paid all expenses including refunding me for Air Fare, paying for Hotel accommodations etc. After two days of transporting me to and from the hotel and work site, John Torquato rented the car for me and arranged for me to drop the car off at San Diego Airport. Therefore, this was an agreed upon business trip that had no value as a gift. 19. John J. Saunders provided the following information in relation to the instant situation: Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 8 a. He has been employed by Allegheny County since February, 1970 and he has served as the Director of Computer Services since May, 1976. b. James Scanlon was his Deputy Director for Computer Services from 1980 until early 1984. c. The Computer Division began reviewing the F.I.C.A. refund situation in the early 1970's but that at that time nothing could be done about recovering the taxes paid on employee's sick leave compensation because the law did not pertain to governmental employers. d. Subsequent to those reviews, the Supreme Court decided that the exception did apply to governmental entities and the Computer Division discussed recovering the funds with several companies. The two entities that were primarily interested in offering proposals for recovering the overpaid taxes were Arthur Young and Company an accounting firm, and Computer Technology Associates (CTA). e. The Computer Division had estimated that approximately $600,000 to $800,000 in refunds would be obtained. f. From the initiation of this project, it was believed that a contingency fee firm would be preferred over a fixed fee firm. g. Formal proposals were never received and Arthur Young only made an informal presentation. h. In the Summer of 1983, he took a two -week vacation and when he returned, Jim Scanlon advised him that the Commissioners wanted to go ahead with the project and that such had to be accomplished quickly. i. Jim Scanlon recommended the engaging of CTA to Scott O'Donnell, the Director of Administration for the County. No in depth cost review of the project was ever completed by the Computer Division. k. The county was interested in a contingency fee contract rather than a fixed fee proposal and the Arthur Young Company would only operate on a fixed fee basis. 1. The recovery estimate was calculated to be $300,000. m. Saunders and Scott R. O'Donnell approved James Scanlon's trip to California with John Torquato. j. Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 9 n. Mr. Torquato had requested that Mr. Scanlon fly to California to complete the final audit on the project and that such would be more economical than transporting records to Pittsburgh. o. Saunders said that Torquato was paying for the trip and this is why he approved it. There was no expense to the county. p. The audit that was conducted in California by Mr. Scanlon was required by the County for completion of the project. Certain figures had to be audited and corrections made or the project could not have been certified as completed. 20. Scott R. O'Donnell, provided the following information in relation to the instant situation: a. He has been employed by Allegheny for approximately 14 years. For approximately 4 years he served as the Director of Administration - Chief Clerk. b. In early 1983, he met John Torquato from the CTA company in relation to a proposal to recover overpaid F.I.C.A. taxes. c. He initially met with Mr. Torquato and discussed generally the possibility of proceeding with this project. d. The only other company that was interested in making a proposal in relation to this project was the Arthur Young Company. e. He attended a meeting with representatives from the Arthur Young Company wherein they made a presentation of their services. f. He did not attend a similar presentation for the CTA company. g. James Scanlon was in charge of this project for the county. h. His (O'Donnell's) request for approval to the board of commissioners for execution of a contract between the county and CTA was based upon the recommendation of James Scanlon because he was handling the project. i. He believed that the CTA company was chosen because of their cost estimates and because of what they anticipated receiving as a refund. Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 10 21. You provided the following information in relation to the instant situation: a. You currently serve as the Director for the Department of Elections in Allegheny County. You previously served as the Deputy Director for the Computer Services Division. b. During the Spring of 1983, you were contacted by the Director of the Allegheny County Department of Administration, Scott O'Donnell, who advised you that a Mr. John Torquato would be contacting you regarding the possibility of utilizing the services of his firm for the recovery of overpaid F.I.C.A. taxes. c. Your immediately supervisor was John Saunders, who was the director of the computer division and his immediate supervisor was Mr. O'Donnell. d. Mr. Torquato's firm, Computer Technology Associates, (CTA) was in the business of recovering social security funds for states and other governmental entities. e. You were subsequently contacted by Mr. Torquato, first telephonically and later by letter. You subsequently met with him. This meeting took place in your office and at that time, Mr. Torquato outlined for you the services to be performed by his company. f. Another company that was interested in conducting the recovery work was Arthur Young and Company an accounting firm. This company made a presentation to you, Scott O'Donnell and Mr. Saunders. At that time, representatives of Arthur Young and Company made a presentation regarding how they would perform the recovery services. g. You never were aware or saw a formal proposal from this entity regarding the recovery services. h. The major difference between the services to be performed by kl CTA and the Arthur Young Company was that CTA offered a contingency fee basis that would result in no fee being paid unless a recovery was realized. Arthur Young and Company wanted a flat fee and would not consider a contingency fee basis. Additionally, the Arthur Young Company would utilize the services of Allegheny County employees as part of their functions. The CTA company would not utilize any of the county employees and would perform all of the services through its own employees. Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 11 i. A decision had been made by Allegheny County officials, that they did not want to burden county employees with performing these functions. j. You do not recall specifically, becoming aware of the fee that the Arthur Young Company would charge. k. You met with Mr. Torquato on several additional occasions and you subsequently concluded that his company would be the recommended choice to perform the recovery services. 1. You were generally in charge of the F.I.C.A. recovery project in that you were experienced in computer services and you had previously conducted research in relation to the F.I.C.A. recovery option. m. As part of his presentation and supporting documentation, Mr. Torquato supplied you with a list of references for whom he had performed similar services. You never contacted any of the references or otherwise verified the information contained therein. n. Sometime around June 24, 1983, Scott O'Donnell telephoned you and asked your opinion as to your recommendation. You recommended CTA and he requested you to put that in writing, which you did. It was important that they move within a time frame or they would lose the ability to capture the refund from the first of these three years which you think was 1979. o. Although you were involved in the recommendation of CTA as the contractor for the recovery project, you were not involved in the drafting of the specific terms and conditions of the contract. p. During one of your meetings with Mr. Torquato, you were engaged in a telephone conversation with your wife discussing a contemplated trip to New York. At the end of this conversation, Mr. Torquato questioned you regarding your trip and indicated that he was acquainted with an individual who maintained a suite in the City. He further indicated that this individual rarely used these facilities and as such, offered them to you for use by your family during this trip. It was subsequently related to you by Mr. Torquato that the suite that was being rented by this individual was in the Carlyle Hotel, in New York and that the facilities were being painted. He further related to you that the Hotel would make available for your use on behalf of this q. Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 12 individual, several bedrooms for the two nights of your planned stay. r. You accepted Mr. Torquato's offer and proceeded to New York. You paid for your own transportation, meals and other expenses. You did however, utilize the rooms that were being provided at the Carlyle Hotel. s. You stayed at the Carlyle Hotel on the nights of August 6, and 7, 1983 occupying two room with your spouse and two children. t. At the time that you did this, you were unaware that John Torquato or CTA was paying for the accommodations at the Carlyle Hotel. You were also unaware that the costs of the two night stay was in excess of $800. u. As part of the work performed by CTA, records from the county were microfilmed. CTA contracted with a microfilming company that then proceeded to the location of the various county payroll clerks who produced records covering a three - year period. Two or three CTA employees were involved in this project. v. Prior to finalization of the project, CTA was to provide to the county all work papers for review and verification. w. Rather than proceeding to require that CTA bring all records to Pittsburgh, it was decided that you should travel to California in order to review papers and conduct an audit thereof. As such, it was agreed by your supervisor Mr. Saunders and Mr. O'Donnell that you would travel to California at CTA's expense in order to complete this project. x. You proceeded to fly to Newport Beach, California and paid for your travel accommodations yourself. Mr. Torquato subsequently reimbursed you for your travel. y. You did not need the approval of the county commissioners to travel out of state in light of the fact that no county funds were being utilized for this trip. z. You traveled to California on a Saturday to stay with your brother in San Diego. On Sunday, your nephew drove you to Newport Beach so that you would be available to conduct business with the CTA people on Monday. On that day and the following day, you were picked up and driven to the data center by CTA employees. The following day, Mr. Torquato Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 13 aa. Following the completion of your business that week on Thursday, you indicated to Mr. Torquato that you were proceeding back to San Diego to visit with your brother and were flying back to Pennsylvania that Saturday. You requested of Mr. Torquato, if you could utilize the vehicle to proceed to San Diego and return it at the airport in that City. Mr. Torquato provided all of your accommodations and meals while staying in Newport Beach in relation to your audit of records. Mr. Torquato also provided the rental vehicle which you utilized during your stay. bb. During your stay in California, Mr. Torquato expressed an interest in hiring you as an employee of his firm. You indicated that at that time, you expressed no interest in obtaining such position. cc. Subsequent to CTA's completion of services for Allegheny County, Mr. Torquato attempted to obtain a contract to perform similar services for the City of Pittsburgh. As part of this project, Mr. Torquato inquired as to whether you would be available to perform various consulting functions for his organization. You talked to your supervisor, Mr. Saunders, and were advised that as long as you did not do this on county time, that there would be no prohibition in your serving as a consultant for Mr. Torquato's organization. dd. As a result, you did in fact perform various functions for Mr. Torquato and kept a log of your activities in relation thereto. You estimate that the amount of funds owed to you by Mr. Torquato was between $1,200 and $1,500. ee. You indicated that after completion of these functions, you advised Mr. Torquato that he did not have to pay you these funds and that he could forget it. He however, offered you a trip to California in lieu of your payments. The reason that you had stopped your employment was Mr. Torquato, because of your elevation to the position of Director for the Department of Elections. ff. You never took the trip, and as a result you never were paid for services rendered to Mr. Torquato's organization. As part of the functions you performed for Mr. Torquato, you assisted him in contacting individuals from the City of Pittsburgh and additionally introduced him to your brother, a State Senator. gg• obtained a rental vehicle for your use while staying in California. Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 14 hh. You did not report either the trip to New York or to California as a gift on your Statements of Financial Interests for 1983. This was so because you were not aware of the fact that these items could be considered gifts. ii. Your wife also received a figurine from Mr. Torquato that was valued at approximately $50 or $60 by him. You submitted amended Statements of Financial Interests outlining all of the above items. 22. Transcripts of the testimony of John Torquato at the November 21, 1986 trial of Robert Asher disclosed the following: a. Torquato testified that on one occasion, he gave you and your wife a Christmas gift, a Baccarratt crystal valued at $50 to $60. b. Torquato also offered "available quarters" in New York City for an anticipated trip that you were taking. (1) Torquato indicated that he had a friend who had an apartment in New York and he would check to see if the apartment would be available. (2) There was no apartment available and he had to call a hotel to obtain lodging for you. (3) Torquato made the offer as a way of doing you a favor. (4) You accepted the gesture made by Torquato. c. Torquato testified that he had you come to California to evaluate the data processing runs. (1) You were flown out, all expenses paid. (2) Lodging and an automobile were provided for you. (3) You requested to use the car to visit your brother in San Diego. (4) It was advantageous to have you in California to assist in the Allegheny County contract effort. 23. You testified regarding your stay in the Carlyle Hotel in New York City which was paid from a CTA account. a. If John Torquato had not paid for the accommodations, you would have paid for the lodging as an out of pocket expense. Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 15 B. Discussion As the Deputy Director of the Computer Division for Allegheny County you were a public employee as that term is defined under the Ethics Act. 65 P.S. Section 402. As such, your conduct is subject to the provisions of the Ethics Act and the restrictions therein are applicable to you. 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 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. Section 3(a) and (b) of the Ethics Act quoted above specifically provide in part that a public employee shall not use the authority of office or confidential information to obtain a financial gain for himself other than compensation provided by law and in addition no public employee shall solicit or accept anything of value based upon the understanding that his official action or judgement would be influenced thereby. 65 P.S. 403 (a), (b). Section 5(b)(6) of the Ethics Act provides in part that a public employee shall list on the Financial Interests Statement the name and the address of any person from whom he receives a gift or gifts valued in the aggregate at $200 or more. In applying the above provisions of the Ethics Act to the instant matter, we note that in 1979 and 1980 Allegheny County began to actively explore the possibility of recovering social security taxes (F.I.C.A.) that had been overpaid in relation to county employees' sick leave compensation. Scott R. O'Donnell, the Chief Clerk of the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners, wrote a memorandum on March 24, 1980 to the board advising of the possible exclusion from F.I.C.A. taxes as to sick leave compensation. In addition, Mr. O'Donnell noted that several municipalities were attempting to apply the exclusion and Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 16 that certain firms were available to perform the recovery service on some type of fee basis. By letter of April 4, 1983 to Scott O'Donnell, the Arthur Young and Company expressed an interest in submitting a proposal to perform the F.I.C.A. tax recovery. The letter from the Arthur Young and Company projected an estimate for recovery and noted the company's prior work in this area with other municipalities in Western Pennsylvania utilizing specialized computer programs which they had available to handle this type of project. Finally the letter outlined the projected services together with their fee estimate of between forty -five and fifty thousand dollars. Thereafter by memo dated June 24, 1983 to Mr. O'Donnell, you recommended quick action on the F.I.C.A. tax recovery project which could be either done in -house or by Arthur Young and Company or by CTA. You then added your recommendation to utilize CTA based upon your assessment of their expertise, their use of their own people and their fee which would be upon a contingency basis. Mr. O'Donnell on July 29, 1983 submitted a request for board action as to the CTA proposal which was approved by the board on August 4, 1983 with a twenty -five percent contingency fee for CTA. The contract was formerly entered into on September 26, 1983 between Allegheny County and CTA for the recovery of F.I.C.A. overpayments for the period 1979 and 1981 inclusive. During 1983, you had certain personal involvement with John R. Torquato of CTA. One incident involved a situation where you were planning a trip to New York City and Mr. Torquato offered you the use of a friend's apartment in New York City for your two day stay. You accepted the lodging for your trip; however, approximately one year later when you were questioned by the FBI, you were advised that Torquato had paid for the accommodations and the source of that payment came from a CTA account. The value of the suite in the New York City hotel in which you stayed for two days is approximately $800. A second incident occurred during October of 1983 when you took a trip to California to review the work of CTA on the F.I.C.A. recovery project. The expenses of your trip were paid by CTA which included your air fare, lodgings, and a car rental. Following the completion of your business with CTA, you obtained the approval of Mr. Torquato to utilize the rental vehicle to visit a relative in San Diego. A third incident involved the receipt of a crystal figurine Christmas gift from Mr. Torquato which appears from the record to be valued at approximately $50 or $60. Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 17 In applying the above quoted provisions of the Ethics Act to the facts of this case, we do not believe that there is conclusive evidence to establish either a 3(a) or 3(b) violation of the Ethics Act. Although we express our concern in this case because of the receipt of personal favors or gifts on your part from Mr. Torquato with whom your county employer had a business relationship, we are nevertheless constrained to find no violation because the evidence does not establish the requisite use of office under Section 3(a) or the existence of an understanding under Section 3(b) of the Ethics Act. However regarding the allegation as to the failure to report the gifts on the Financial Interests Statements, we note that the Financial Interests Statements which you filed in 1984 through 1987 listed the county as a source of income, but did not list any gifts. Clearly the receipt of a hotel suite for two days in New York City is a gift regardless of whether you might consider such action as a gesture on the part of friend rather than a gift; the fact that you did not have any out of pocket expenses to pay for the suite for the two day period constituted a gift to you. To the extent that the value of that gift exceeded two hundred dollars and was not reported, we find that you violated section 5(b)(6) in failing to report that gift. As to the gift of the crystal, although the individual amount of that gift is only $50 or $60 dollars, it appears that the aggregate value of gifts in 1983 exceeded $200 and therefore you violated Section 5(b)(6) by not reporting that particular gift. Thirdly the use of a car that was paid for by CTA Associates, while you were in California for business purposes as to that contract, also constituted a violation of Section 5(b)(6) in that your use of the car for personal reasons upon completion of your business related activities was a gift to you from CTA. In light of the fact that you have now amended your Financial Interests Statements to include the gifts that you have received from CTA through John Torquato, we will take no further action in this case. C. Conclusion and Order 1. As the Deputy Director of the Computer Division of Allegheny County you were a public employee subject to the provisions of the Ethics Act. 2. You did not violate either Section 3(a) or 3(b) of the Ethics Act, based upon an insufficiency of evidence, regarding the acceptance on your part of gifts from John Torquato and CTA which had a contract with Allegheny County for the recovery of F.I.C.A. overpayments. Mr. James E. Scanlon Page 18 3. You violated Section 5(b)(6) of the Ethics Act regarding the failure to report on your Statements of Financial Interests gifts in the aggregate of more than $200 consisting of hotel suite for two days in New York City, a Christmas gift of a crystalline figure and the use of a rental car for a personal matters in California. 4. Since you have filed an amended Financial Interests Statement which lists the gifts noted in paragraph 3 above, this Commission will take no further action in this case. This Order is final and will be made available as a public document fifteen days after issuance. However, you may request reconsideration which will defer public release of this Order pending action on your request by the Commission. A request for reconsideration, however, does not affect the finality of this Order. A reconsideration request must be received at this Commission within fifteen days of issuance and must include a detailed explanation of your reasons as to why reconsideration should be granted in conformity with 51 Pa. Code 52.38. 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, including yourself, unless the right to challenge this Order is waived, may violate confidentiality by releasing, discussing or circulating this Order. However, confidentiality does not preclude you from discussing this case with your attorney at law. Any person who violates confidentiality of a Commission proceeding is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year or both, 65 P.S. 409(e). By - Commission ena G. Hughes hair Robert W. Brown did not participate in this matter because he acted as single presiding officer and recused himself pursuant to 51 Pa. Code 52.34(d). Dennis C. Harrington did not participate in this matter. G. Sieber Pancoast dissents.