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Officials' Trips to Israel Said to Tip Ethics Scale
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Many who have taken the trip to Israel describe it as a valuable experience that kept them on the move for more than 12 hours a day as they met with Israelis and Palestinians and viewed the inner workings of other governments and businesses. "It was not a vacation. It was hard work," said council member Nancy Floreen (D-At Large), who went a few years ago. "There was no lobbying on local stuff."
The details of the ethics panel's decision will not be published for a few more days, but the outlines were described in an e-mail from Executive Director Barbara McNally to Trachtenberg.
The community relations council had obtained a commitment from a private foundation to reimburse it for the Montgomery delegation's expenses. But the ethics panel was unconvinced.
"If the gift were being offered directly to you by a private foundation that is not a lobbyist, it might be permissible. However, the routing of monies through a lobbyist organization to provide travel services makes the gift unacceptable," McNally's e-mail said.
The ethics panel's decision appeared to catch local officials by surprise. Some said they had checked with their staffs and had been told that many county lawmakers had taken the trips.
"It was not the first year it was being done," said County Council President Marilyn Praisner (D-East County), who took the trip 14 years ago. "It was a pattern that had been established."
It's not clear what effect, if any, the ethics commission's ruling will have beyond Montgomery. The county's law is patterned after state law, and many state officials have taken the trips.
Montgomery ethics commission Chairman Richard N. Reback, a federal government lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment.
Despite the ethics ruling, Leggett is planning a trip to Israel in October as part of a Maryland trade mission that Halber's organization is helping to arrange. Leggett's office is looking for other ways to pay for the trip, said Leggett's spokesman, Patrick Lacefield.
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