Ethics Ad Has Rienbeck angry

Ethics ad has official angry
SUPERVISOR RILED: Conflict of interest issue raised again on wind farm plan
By NANCY MADSEN
TIMES STAFF WRITER
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2009


CAPE VINCENT — An advertisement by the Wind Power Ethics Group has angered Supervisor Thomas K. Rienbeck
so much that he's considering halting progress on a revised wind development zoning law.

"I'm only one person on the board, but I certainly am not interested in the town spending any more money on getting this law through," he said.

The group's ad, which ran in Sunday's Times, outlined potential conflicts of interest State Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, three Town Council members and three Planning Board members have with wind developers. The conflicts are leases they or family members have signed with one or both of the wind farm developers in the town.

The conflicts were acknowledged publicly in July when the board members filled out disclosure forms. Town officials with conflicts are town Councilmen Marty T. Mason, Donald J. Mason and Joseph H. Wood and Planning Board Chairman Richard J. Edsall and members Karen Bourcy and Andrew R. Binsley.
The ad, addressed to the project managers of the two wind farms, said, "You have entered into contracts with many of our town's officials and their families knowing this would create blatant conflicts of interest. This is a violation of the town's ethics code and NY State law."

It blamed the developers for creating the "unethical situation and bitter community" and called on state and local officials to investigate the conflicts of interest.

"It was pretty upsetting to see something like that," Mr. Rienbeck said. "It felt like a slap in the face ... it's an attempt to degrade the town government."

The Wind Power Ethics Group had a 10-member committee work on the ad, which was also reviewed by attorneys. Members of that committee said the content of the town's revised law is immaterial to the town's problem with conflicts of interest.

"Regardless of the content, it is illegal and unethical for three members of the board to vote on the law," member Arthur D. Pundt said. "That's something they will have to clean up. It needs to be resolved before things continue."

He said the disclosures should have happened immediately after those town officials entered contracts with developers. The town's ethics code states officials should declare conflicts whenever they know they could gain from proposed legislation.

"We wanted to bring conflicts of interest into the open so everyone is aware of how deep it is and how wide it goes," Mr. Pundt said.

Group member John L. Byrne said the entire process in the town was tainted because of the early failure of members to report and recuse themselves from votes based on conflicts.

"To gain the citizens' trust and confidence, they need different people voting on these issues," he said. "It's like a referee umpiring a game that he has bets on."

Mr. Rienbeck said the town has spent about $15,000 working on the wind zoning ordinance so far. A committee completed a five-month review of a proposed zoning ordinance in January. Mr. Rienbeck said he thought members of Wind Power Ethics Group had supported many of the changes.

"I heard comments by opponents of wind power and they were somewhat happy with what we put together," he said. "As much as they've said they're in favor of wind power, this makes it look more like they're not in favor."

Group member Brooks J. Bragdon said that the proposed zoning law does not sufficiently protect visual resources of the town.

"We've got a very, very unique community on the state level, the national level and even the international level," he said. "The purpose of the underlying zoning law is to protect the community. There is nothing in the zoning law that protects the aesthetics of the community."

Mr. Rienbeck said that if progress on the new wind development zoning law is suspended or if a vote does not occur, the current law stands. In the zoning law, wind farms are now considered utilities. That classification is undergoing a legal challenge by Wind Power Ethics Group.

"They need to keep in mind that if a law is not passed," he said, "wind power development is allowed to occur anywhere in the town under the current law."