The Baltimore Board of Ethics should review whether city employees have violated ethics statutes by soliciting money for a nonprofit group without receiving approval, a city councilman said Monday.
In a letter to the board's chairman, Councilman William H. Cole IV asked the ethics board to examine the activities of the Baltimore City Foundation, an organization created primarily to help finance city projects for the needy. The request followed the publication Sunday of a Baltimore Sun investigation that detailed questionable transactions by city employees using foundation money. The investigation also documented how some city employees who raised money for the foundation had little, if any, awareness of ethics rules governing those activities.
"While I have no doubt that the Foundation does indeed have an important role in the City of Baltimore, I am deeply concerned about the alleged lack of regard for local ethics laws," wrote Cole.
Dana P. Moore, chairwoman of the ethics board, said she expects it to decide next month whether to go on with the review.
City ethics rules ban employees from soliciting private donations from anyone who "does or seeks to do business" with the employee's agency or whose business is regulated by the agency. The board can grant exemptions in cases where the funds would benefit an official government program activity or a city-endorsed charitable activity.
Also on Monday, Comptroller Joan M. Pratt said she plans to launch an audit of the foundation. She said she made the decision Sunday after reviewing The Baltimore Sun's investigation, and did it independently of a request for an audit by City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake.
Although the foundation helps pay for projects such as home smoke alarms for the needy and a summer jobs program, the newspaper's investigation found that city officials have broad discretion over how money is spent. Some of the funds go to projects having little or nothing to do with the foundation's purposes, a potential violation of Internal Revenue Service rules, legal and nonprofit experts say. In one case, city employees tapped its treasury to pay for entertainment and security services for Mayor Sheila Dixon's inaugural celebration. In other cases, the foundation enabled city officials to sidestep competitive bidding on a contract, and inappropriately generate interest income on state money.
