Ethics Commission: Boccieri has conflict in air base issues

The Ohio Ethics Commission replied to new Western Reserve Port Authority member John Boccieri, saying he has a conflict of interest between his position as commander of the 757th Airlift Squadron at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station and his position on the board.

It says Boccieri, as a port-authority board member, “must withdraw from consideration of matters before the authority that will affect the Air Force’s interests as a tenant” at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

The Feb. 3 letter says Ohio law prevents a port-authority member from using his “authority or influence as an authority board member to secure any benefit or avoid a detriment for the Air Force Reserve.”

The letter doesn’t offer an opinion on whether he can serve as a port-authority member, but it says he must “fully withdraw from consideration of matters before the authority that will affect [the Air Force Reserve’s] interests.”

A question about whether Boccieri can advocate for the Air Force as a port-authority member came up at his first meeting because the board heard a presentation from the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. The chamber asked the port authority to provide $25,000 per year for three years to hire someone to lead a local commission that will work to preserve the mission of the Air Reserve Station.

The port authority carries out economic-development projects and runs the airport, which shares runways and other facilities with the air base.

Last month, the former congressman, who also served in the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate, provided The Vindicator with a copy of the Jan. 14 letter he wrote to the Ethics Commission asking for an opinion on whether he can vote on matters related to the air base.

Contacted Monday, Boccieri said he found the opinion “surprising” given the number of times he’s been allowed during his time in Congress and in the Ohio General Assembly to advocate on behalf of the Air Force Reserve.

“It’s the first time in 21 years in the Air Force Reserve and a decade in public office I’ve been discouraged from using my military experience in public office,” he said.

Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said late Monday that he and the two other commissioners will “sit down and take a serious look” at the opinion and probably seek guidance from their attorneys in the prosecutors office. He expects the port authority’s attorney, Dan Keating, also to weigh in.

He said it’s “a far stretch” to imagine that Boccieri would enrich himself by voting on issues that better the airport and port authority. “As for right now, Mr. Boccieri will remain our appointee.”

He said he finds it hard to understand how the Ethics Commission and the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee of the Ohio General Assembly could reach such different conclusions.

He said it “follows the old adage that, ‘If you ask five different attorneys their opinion, you’ll get 10 different interpretations.’”

He said the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee cleared him to vote on matters such as a veterans bonus program, and he wrote the legislation that eventually passed in the state budget to allow the use of hotel-motel taxes for airports that operate jointly with a military base.

Former Gov. Bob Taft appointed Boccieri to serve on the Ohio Aerospace Defense Advisory Council that evaluated military facilities in Ohio and pushed legislation in Columbus to protect them, he said.

“It just seems like bureaucratic red tape, but if this opinion is the one the commissioners must follow, we will work within the guidelines and I will recuse myself from some votes,” Boccieri said.