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By MARK GUYDISH; Times Leader Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 09, 1997 Page: 2A
HAZLETON — The State Ethics Commission has ruled Hazleton City Authority
board member Norbert O’Donnell committed two “technical violations” of the
State Ethics Law.
The violations stem from the hiring of the law firm of Mylotte David &
Fitzpatrick as authority solicitor last year. O’Donnell’s brother, Attorney
Peter O’Donnell, works for Mylotte David & Fitzpatrick and did extensive work
for the authority through the law firm.
The ethics commission ruled a technical violation occurred when Norbert
O’Donnell voted to hire attorney Joseph Ferdinand from Mylotte David &
Fitzpatrick as solicitor. The authority board later voted to name the entire
law firm, not only Ferdinand, as solicitor. O’Donnell abstained from that
vote.
The ethics commission ruled a second technical violation occurred when
O’Donnell voted several times to pay bills submitted by the law firm.
In a 12-page report, the ethics commission noted that in both cases,
O’Donnell acted on the advice of the authority solicitor. Luzerne County
Commissioner Tom Makowski was the solicitor before Ferdinand.
The Ethics Commission took no action against O’Donnell. The report states
O’Donnell filed a “stipulation of findings and consent agreement” which “is
the proper disposition of this case.”
O’Donnell said that in the agreement he acknowledged committing the
technical violations, but only after consulting the solicitor.
“My solicitor gave me advice that apparently caused me to commit a
technical violation. They (the Ethics Commission) know there was no criminal
intent,” O’Donnell said.
The Ethics Commission ruled that Attorney Peter O’Donnell did not receive
any monetary benefit directly from Norbert O’Donnell’s actions. Attorney
O’Donnell was paid a salary by Mylotte David & Fitzpatrick at the time,
regardless of how much work he did on authority matters.