ETHICS REPORT CLEARS POLICE COMMISSIONER.Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer Police Commissioner Gerald Gerald - ["Gerald: An Exceptional Lazy Functional Programming Language", A.C. Reeves et al, in Functional Programming, Glasgow 1989, K. Davis et al eds, Springer 1990]. Chaleff doesn't does·n't Contraction of does not. need to divest To deprive or take away. Divest is usually used in reference to the relinquishment of authority, power, property, or title. If, for example, an individual is disinherited, he or she is divested of the right to inherit money. himself from interests in his law partnership even though conflicts of interest have kept him from voting 10 times in the past seven months, an Ethics Commission In the United States, an Ethics Commission is a commission established by State law to discourage dishonest practices by their public employees and elected officials. Almost all American states have such a commission. official determined. Chaleff's partnership in the law firm of Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliff ``poses the potential for a `continuing' conflict,'' but ``the nature of his recusals thus far - with one exception - has not been `significant,' '' said the report by Commission Executive Director Rebecca Avila avila (ä·vē·l  ),adj , which will be considered Thursday by the Ethics Commission. Under city ethics rules, any time a city commissioner is disqualified dis·qual·i·fy tr.v. dis·qual·i·fied, dis·qual·i·fy·ing, dis·qual·i·fies 1. a. To render unqualified or unfit. b. To declare unqualified or ineligible. 2. three times in a one-year period because of a conflict of interest, the Ethics Commission must launch a review to determine whether the interest poses a continuing and significant conflict, which could force the commissioner to divest himself from the interest. ``Although numerous in a short period of time compared to those of his fellow commissioners, these recusals have not precluded Commissioner Chaleff from being involved in the vast majority of Police Commission matters,'' Avila concluded in the seven-page report. Avila said eight of the recusals were on routine nighttime construction permits for the city Department of Water and Power, which is a client of Chaleff's law firm in other matters. Chaleff also had to recuse To disqualify or remove oneself as a judge over a particular proceeding because of one's conflict of interest. Recusal, or the judge's act of disqualifying himself or herself from presiding over a proceeding, is based on the Maxim himself from voting on a nighttime permit for construction of the downtown sports arena because his firm was hired to represent the city in negotiations on the development. Avila said the one ``critical'' action that Chaleff had to recuse himself from was the Police Commission's vote to award a $51 million contract to Motorola for construction of a police communications system In telecommunication, a communications system is a collection of individual communications networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and data terminal equipment (DTE) usually capable of interconnection and interoperation to form an integrated whole. . The rest of the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the controversial contract, which was challenged by a competing bidder. Avila said Chaleff's recusals ``have not negatively impacted the residents of the city, the Police Commission or the Police Department.'' As a result, Avila concluded that Chaleff's interest in his law firm ``has not prevented him from effectively fulfilling his duties as a Police Commissioner.'' Chaleff welcomed the report, saying it confirmed what he believed to be the case. ``These are mostly consent items,'' he said. ``They are not real issues. If I thought that there would be a real conflict I wouldn't have agreed to serve on the commission in the first place.'' |
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