Mayor’s state ethics case over a $912 dumpster cost Harrisburg taxpayers $32,000

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — The Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission’s mission is to promote public faith in government, enforcing rules designed to prevent public officials from benefiting financially from their offices. It received 348 ethics complaints last year, including a high-profile one regarding Harrisburg’s mayor.

As part of an ethics settlement for using a city-owned dumpster, Mayor Wanda Williams agreed to pay the city $912.70 to offset the cost of the service.  According to figures from the city’s law bureau, the case cost the city much more than that — a total of $32,927.31 in legal fees.

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Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission Executive Director Mary Fox said the state’s Ethics Act requires it to look into every claim of misconduct it receives that has a greater than “de minimis economic impact.” Although the act doesn’t define the term, the Commonwealth Court found in at least one case that $561 was de minimis…

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