So how much of a cut am I going to get, Sal?
Posted by: Donna
Scott Wong was on the case this morning being a stooge for presenting Sal DiCiccio’s side of the story after the New Times gave wide exposure to his land leases on the Gila River Indian Community.
Sal insists that he did disclose his interests.
“I am all about transparency. The reason thy were able to find all of this out is because I provided the information,” said DiCiccio, a 23-year Ahwatukee resident.
Gosh, that’s mighty big of him. See, he follows financial disclosure laws. Just like the little people do!
He even sought advice from a lawyer about it.
After reviewing the matter, (Gary) Verburg said he advised the councilman that there was no conflict of interest. Arizona law provides that public officials cannot vote on or participate in matters in which they have a substantial interest. But Verburg said there is an exception: Officials can get involved in issues that impact 10 or more people.
“I advised him it was not a conflict because the alignment affects thousands of people,” Verburg said. “It was not a hard question for me.”
I’m not a lawyer, but my boyfriend is and I watch Judge Judy. However, I don’t even need to marshall my considerable legal expertise to deduce the flaw in that bit of reasoning. Yeah, the freeway alignment does impact thousands of people, but the potential financial gain from the development of either of those parcels of land would accrue to, from the looks of it, Sal DiCiccio and maybe a handful of others. Using Verburg’s rationale it would be perfectly acceptable for an elected official to broker a deal and vote on just about any kind of development – hotel, shopping center, office complex, etc. – that they have a substantial financial interest in and claim that since more than 10 people would be affected it’s okay.
Perhaps I’m missing something here and Sal was planning to share the spoils of development on his land leases with the people in the Ahwatukee Foothills who would be directly impacted by the freeway. Shall we all be expecting dividend checks from Sal?
3 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
Just goes to show, two Wongs don’t make a right.
The rule that they city attorney basicallly allows any politicians to do anything provided it effects more than ten people. What use is a conlifct of interest law. If Sal is allowed to get away with this, our city form of government will go on to be one of the most corrupt in history.
Does Steve Yarbrough get 10% before we get our cut?