PUBLIC SESSION
MEETING CONVENED
Chair Margot Botsford called the meeting to order at 9:33 a.m. Also in attendance were Commissioner Wilbur P. Edwards, Jr., Commissioner Eron Hackshaw, and Commissioner Thomas A. Connors. Vice Chair Josefina Martinez was not present.
REMOTE PARTICIPATION
Chair Botsford announced that the meeting would take place in-person with remote access provided to the public pursuant to the law signed by Governor Healey on March 29, 2023. Chair Botsford noted that all votes at the meeting would be taken by roll call.
APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES
On the motion of Commissioner Edwards, seconded by Commissioner Connors, the Commission voted 4-0 to waive the reading and approve the public session minutes of the January 18, 2024 Commission meeting.
| Chair Botsford | Yes |
| Commissioner Edwards | Yes |
| Commissioner Hackshaw | Yes |
| Commissioner Connors | Yes |
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Executive Director David A. Wilson presented his monthly report.
Personnel
Mr. Wilson welcomed new Assistant Agency Counsel Christopher N. Popov, who previously served at the Commission as a Legal Division attorney over fifteen years ago.
Mr. Wilson reported that the position of Government Affairs Officer has been posted, and the Commission has received applications from very qualified candidates. Chair Botsford asked whether a redefined Government Affairs Officer position was posted as briefly discussed at a previous Commission meeting. Mr. Wilson confirmed the posting and explained that the Government Affairs Officer must possess substantial knowledge of the state legislative process, including the budget process, and will support the Commission’s education and training programs and perform other tasks and projects as needed.
Budget
Mr. Wilson provided an update on the Fiscal Year 2025 budget process. He reported that the Governor’s Office released the Governor’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget recommendation on January 24, 2024. He explained that the Governor’s budget recommendation includes $3,634,121 in funding for the Commission, about a $149,090 increase over Fiscal Year 2024, but still approximately $308,000 less than the Commission’s full budget request. Mr. Wilson explained that the Commission’s budget request will include maintenance funding, including for annualized cost-of-living increases for Commission staff, and expansion funding, including for a new Commission paid internship program, additional branched content for the online training program, and a new Public Education and Communications Division position to provide technical assistance for the online learning platform, SFI system, and new legal case management system.
Chair Botsford asked whether the new legal case management system would be for use primarily by the Commission staff. Mr. Wilson confirmed that it would be and explained that the new cloud-based system would replace the Commission’s legacy case management system, Ethos, and greatly reduce the need to use paper documents.
Mr. Wilson stated that the House Committee on Ways and Means will review the Governor’s budget recommendation and release its own recommendations for deliberation by the House. He noted that, on March 19, 2024, he will provide testimony to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means in Worcester in support of the Commission’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget request.
New Commissioner
Mr. Wilson stated that there is nothing new to report regarding the appointment of a new commissioner to succeed Vice Chair Martinez.
Next Meeting
Mr. Wilson reminded the Commission that the next Commission meeting is scheduled for March 21, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. Following discussion, the Commission scheduled its subsequent meeting for April 25, 2024 at 9:30 a.m.
LETTER TO COMMISSION REGARDING DISPOSITION AGREEMENTS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION LETTERS
Mr. Wilson reported that, on February 1, 2024, he received a letter from Common Cause Massachusetts Executive Director Geoff Foster addressed to the Chair about disposition agreements and public education letters that the Commission has issued over the past five years. He noted Common Cause’s long history of involvement with the Commission, including that, in 1978, an initiative petition by Common Cause led to the Legislature enacting the financial disclosure law that created the Commission. Mr. Wilson further noted that two current Common Cause Massachusetts State Advisory Board members, Peter Sturges and David Sullivan, had previously served, respectively, as executive director and general counsel at the Commission.
Commissioner Connors requested that the Legal Division prepare a memorandum for the Commission explaining its powers of rescission and restitution and its history of ordering restitution and repayment of the economic advantage obtained through conflict of interest law violations. Commissioner Hackshaw said that he would like more information about the cases referred to in the Common Cause letter as he is not familiar with all of them.
Following discussion, the Commission agreed by consensus that the Commission’s Enforcement Committee meet to discuss the Common Cause letter prior to the full Commission’s March meeting and work on recommendations on penalties imposed by the Commission to be submitted to the full Commission for further discussion at its meeting on April 25, 2024.
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION MATTERS
Public Education and Communications Division Chief David Giannotti presented his memorandum detailing Public Education and Communications Division activities for the month of January 2024.
Mr. Giannotti reported that he conducted six public education seminars in January attended by 312 public employees. Commissioner Edwards asked whether the public education seminar for the Boston City Council and its staff was well-received. Mr. Giannotti reported that the public education seminar for Boston City Council members and staff had approximately 25 attendees who were engaged in the presentation and asked good questions. He said that he looks forward to conducting additional trainings for City Hall employees.
Mr. Giannotti reported that the Division responded to 788 telephone and e-mail inquiries regarding the online learning platform in January, a significant increase from prior months largely due to the system rollover to the 2024 education compliance period and system emails sent to over 214,000 users containing new course due dates. He further reported that, as a result, the average number of monthly telephone and e-mail inquiries over the past five months increased significantly to approximately 420. Mr. Giannotti thanked Senior Public Information Officer Gerry Tuoti and Senior Program Coordinator Arthur Xia for handling the bulk of the help desk inquiries in January, and noted that, in most cases, calls were handled the same or next day.
Mr. Giannotti reported that approximately 10,000 new users have registered for the online learning platform last month. He explained that, in 2024, most public employees are only required to acknowledge their receipt of the summary of the conflict of interest law. Mr. Giannotti noted that the Commission is the keeper of the education requirements compliance records for elected state and county officials and Mr. Xia has been responding to inquiries from elected state and county officials about the requirements. He reported that 110 elected state and county officials have already complied with the conflict of interest law education requirements for this year.
Mr. Giannotti stated that Mr. Tuoti distributed a survey to local administrators to assess the need for additional translations of the conflict of interest law training. He explained that the conflict of interest law training is currently in English with closed captioning available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese. Mr. Tuoti reported that 263 public agencies and municipalities, including the City of Boston, responded to the survey, and Haitian Creole was selected as the most frequently requested translation by a wide margin. Mr. Giannotti said that they will review whether the closed captioning can be completed in Haitian Creole within the Commission’s budget.
Mr. Giannotti reported that Mr. Tuoti and General Counsel/Legal Division Chief Eve Slattery plan to meet with House and Senate Counsel to obtain their input for the development of new branched content tailored to Legislative staff to add to the conflict of interest training.
LEGAL DIVISION MATTERS
General Counsel/Legal Division Chief Eve Slattery reported on the activities of the Legal Division. Ms. Slattery noted that Mr. Popov has received extensive training from Commission staff and has already begun responding to requests for advice as Attorney of the Day. Chair Botsford asked whether the requests for advice have been similar to the ones that he received when he previously served as a Legal Division attorney over fifteen years ago. Mr. Popov responded that most requests for advice have been similar, but some are based on new regulations that were adopted after his departure from the Commission.
Ms. Slattery thanked Assistant Enforcement Counsel John C. McDonald, who was previously assigned to both the Enforcement and Legal Divisions but will now work solely with the Enforcement Division, for all his work for the Legal Division in providing advice as Attorney of the Day.
Legal Division Metrics for January 2024
Ms. Slattery presented the following Legal Division metrics for January 2024.
- Written advice. The Legal Division answered by letter or e-mail 49 written requests for advisory opinions under G.L. c. 268A and c. 268B. Of these requests, 13 pertained to SFIs.
| January 2023 (same month prior year) (total/SFI): | 56/10 |
| December 2023 (previous month) (total/SFI): | 55/13 |
- Oral advice. The Legal Division attorneys provided advice by telephone in response to 401 requests for advice from state, county, and municipal officials. Of these requests, 62 pertained to SFIs.
| January 2023 (same month prior year) (total/SFI): | 454/89 |
| December 2023 (previous month) (total/SFI): | 337/19 |
- Review of municipal letters. Division staff reviewed 0 letters issued by city solicitors/town counsel pursuant to G.L. c. 268A, § 22 and 930 CMR 1.03.
| January 2023 (same month prior year): | 1 |
| December 2023 (previous month): | 1 |
- Backlog. As of February 5, 2024, the Division has 6 pending requests for written advice that is more than 30 days old. There are a total of 31 pending requests for written advice.
Adjudicatory Matters
Ms. Slattery presented the February/March calendar of conferences/hearings in pending Commission adjudicatory proceedings.
Litigation Matters
Ms. Slattery provided an update on litigation matters. She reported that, in Haley v. State Ethics Commission, Suffolk Superior Court Civil Action No. 2284CV02661, the Suffolk Superior Court recently affirmed the Commission’s 2022 decision that Aquinnah Select Board member Gary Haley violated the conflict of interest law. Ms. Slattery thanked Staff Counsel Amy Bressler Nee for her work on the brief and oral argument. She noted that Suffolk Superior Court had affirmed the Commission’s use of the willful blindness doctrine under Section 19. Mr. Wilson noted that, while most agencies rely on the Attorney General’s Office to handle litigation matters on their behalf, Ms. Slattery has been appointed as a Special Assistant Attorney General and, as such represents the Commission in this case as well as in other cases. He explained that the Legal Division prepares briefs and argues cases, while the Attorney General’s Office reviews the briefs and provides other support to Commission attorneys in representing cases on appeal. Ms. Slattery thanked Assistant Attorney General Eric Haskell for his assistance in conducting a moot argument for Ms. Nee to prepare her for the oral argument in Suffolk Superior Court. Commissioner Hackshaw said that, when he served as the hearing officer for the case, the matter initially seemed straightforward but quickly grew very complex and nuanced, so the Commission’s hard work has been reflected in the Suffolk Superior Court decision.
SFI Report
Legal Division Deputy Chief/SFI Lauren Duca provided an update on Statements of Financial Interests (SFI). Ms. Duca said that the SFI Team worked with several agencies, who had technical issues with their Calendar Year 2023 Designation Lists, to resubmit them since the SFI system could not be opened until all Designation Lists were received. She reported that the Calendar Year 2023 filing season opened on February 1, 2024. Ms. Duca explained that, on that date, each filer with a valid e-mail address in the SFI system received the user access notification with their user ID, a link to reset a forgotten password as well as a link to the filing system. She noted that, prior to the opening of the filing season, the SFI Team completed its review of the Calendar Year 2023 manual and electronic SFI forms and posted the manual form on the Commission’s website along with a notice about the opening of the filing season. She reported that, to date, 679 of the approximately 3,800 people have already filed their Calendar Year 2023 SFI. Ms. Duca reported that the SFI Team responded to 218 phone and e-mail inquiries in January from filers seeking technical and legal assistance with their SFI filing, compared to 112 phone and e-mail inquiries in December.
ENFORCEMENT DIVISION MATTERS
Enforcement Division Chief Monica Brookman presented the Enforcement Intake Metrics. Ms. Brookman said that she hopes to further reduce the intake backlog and shorten the overall duration of preliminary inquiries as the Enforcement Division is fully staffed with the recent addition of Mr. McDonald. She reported that there are less than 20 cases in the complaint backlog, which is significantly lower compared to previous years. Chair Botsford asked whether the COVID-19 pandemic had caused the substantial backlog of cases. Ms. Brookman explained that the Enforcement Division had been short-staffed for many years, which caused the backlog over time when the Division received more cases than it could manage. Mr. Wilson noted that Staff Counsel Candies Pruitt served as the only attorney in the Enforcement Division for part of 2017 before Ms. Brookman joined the Commission.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
At 10:32 a.m., on the motion of Chair Botsford, seconded by Commissioner Connors, the Commission voted 4-0 to enter executive session to discuss matters subject to the provisions of G.L. c. 30A, § 21, subparagraph (a)(7), and § 18, and G.L. c. 268B, §§ 3 and 4, including investigatory matters, preliminary inquiries, summons authorization requests, and adjudicatory matters.
| Chair Botsford | Yes |
| Commissioner Edwards | Yes |
| Commissioner Hackshaw | Yes |
| Commissioner Connors | Yes |
Chair Botsford stated that the Commission would not reconvene in public session following the executive session.
The meeting recessed at 10:32 a.m. and resumed at 10:40 a.m.
LIST OF DOCUMENTS USED AT THIS MEETING
- Agenda for the Commission Meeting of February 15, 2024
- Minutes of the Commission Meeting of January 18, 2024 Public Session
- Letter dated February 1, 2024 from Common Cause Massachusetts Executive Director Geoff Foster to the Commission regarding disposition agreements and public education letters
- Memorandum dated February 8, 2024 from Public Education and Communications Division Chief David Giannotti to the Commission concerning Public Education and Communications Division activities in January 2024
- Memorandum dated February 5, 2024 from General Counsel/Legal Division Chief Eve Slattery to the Commission setting forth Legal Division matters for the meeting
- Calendar of hearing dates and pre-hearing conferences in pending Commission adjudicatory matters
- Haley v. State Ethics Commission, Suffolk Superior Court No. 2284CR02661 (2024)
- Enforcement Intake Metrics
Respectfully submitted,
Arthur Xia
Senior Program Coordinator