Yudichak, Baker ready for public hearing on White Haven Center

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<p>Marissa Crispell&#8217;s recent resignation as Luzerne County election director prompted the automatic dismissal of county ethics complaints against her over vendor-funded advisory board trips, according to information from sources and statements made at Wednesday&#8217;s county ethics commission meeting.</p><p>The commission won&#8217;t identify the accused due to confidentiality, but two sources have said two complaints were filed against Crispell over trips valued at nearly $2,500 to Las Vegas, Nevada, and Omaha, Nebraska, funded by Election Systems &amp; Software, which later received a $325,000 county electronic poll book contract.</p><p>Generally speaking, commission Chairman Marc Dixon said legal counsel concluded action cannot be taken against a former employee who is no longer a &#8220;covered person&#8221; required to obey the county council-adopted ethics code.</p><p>The &#8220;covered persons&#8221; under the code are all county employees and officials and members and employees of county authorities, boards and commissions, it says.</p><p>Dixon also noted the penalties available to the commission for code violations could not be imposed on someone no longer employed.</p><p>The code-permitted penalties: an admonishment letter; a public &#8220;censure&#8221; disclosing the violation and strong disapproval of it; a recommendation of suspension without pay or dismissal/removal from a position; or a fine of up to $500 and restitution.</p><p>Kingston resident Brian Shiner told the commission he disagrees with its stance and believes a complaint should proceed if the subject was a covered person when it was filed.</p><p>&#8220;At least it should come to a finding of some sort instead of just being thrown out like it never happened,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The subject of one complaint against Crispell, according to a source, was an ethics code section barring employees from accepting gifts, rewards or considerations &#8212; direct or indirect &#8212; from businesses having or seeking a financial relationship with the county.</p><p>Crispell, who resigned effective Sept. 6, had said her advisory involvement was cleared by Administrative Services Division Head David Parsnik and county assistant solicitor Michael Butera and that she stepped down from the advisory role in fall 2017 before the county sought proposals from electronic poll book suppliers in January 2018.</p><p>All 22 county ethics complaints filed this year to date have been dismissed, with none outstanding, the commission said Wednesday.</p><p>Shiner stated during the meeting that election trip-related complaints also were filed against Butera, Parsnik and county Manager C. David Pedri, but commission members said they can&#8217;t confirm that.</p><p>Pedri, a commission member, stressed all 22 complaints were dismissed by the outside attorneys without rising to the level of commission involvement. As required by the code, Pedri said he would refrain from participating if he had a conflict in any complaint.</p><p>Outside attorneys handle both preliminary inquiries and full investigations if there is reason to believe the code has been violated. If a full investigation is launched, the commission ultimately must either terminate it upon recommendation of the attorney or issue a formal complaint requiring a written response from the accused and possibly a commission hearing and ruling.</p><p>Dixon said the outside attorneys ended up investigating 13 of the complaints, but none advanced to the formal complaint stage.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County Courthouse </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_luzcocourthouse01-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Luzerne County Courthouse </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne County ethics complaints against former election director dismissed