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Ohio Ethics Commission yet to decide on inquiry into Mohip actions
VINDICATOR EXCLUSIVE
COLUMBUS
Awarding contracts to business associates is unethical, the Ohio Ethics Commission’s executive director says.
“If someone is a consultant with a firm, and they’re engaged in an activity at that point in time ... that arrangement with that person” is prohibited because of the nature of their relationship, said commission Executive Director Paul Nick, after Wednesday’s ethics commission’s meeting in Columbus.
“So during that period of time that they have that relationship, that would be considered a business associate – so you cannot award contracts to that business associate,” he told The Vindicator after the session.
The ethics commission was recently contacted by state Reps. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th, and John Boccieri of Poland, D-59th, along with state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, who asked if Youngstown City Schools CEO Krish Mohip violated state ethics rules by conducting business with a company that partnered with a firm for which he had worked as a paid consultant.
The commission has not decided whether to open an investigation into the matter.
The three Valley lawmakers’ letter to the commission followed a story in The Vindicator revealing that the school district paid $261,914 to Curriculum Associates for its i-Ready program. Curriculum Associates is a partner company of Education Research & Development Institute [ERDI], which used Mohip as a paid consultant as recently as August.
Although Nick would not discuss any ongoing investigations or persons in particular, he did discuss generic examples of similar situations.
“The question, speaking generically, is whether or not a superintendent or CEO of a school can participate in the award of contracts with persons they do business with and if that’s the ethics issue,” he said. “[Conflicts of interest] prohibit you from using authority or authorizing or having interest or profiting from contracts that are awarded by the entity you serve. Ethics laws deal with conflicts of interest so there has to be something, a private or public interest, that conflict.”
And, the interest has to be an outside interest which could be personal, financial or fiduciary, Nick added.
In Mohip’s situation, despite his consultant status with ERDI during the time he contracted with ERDI partner Curriculum Associates for i-Ready, Mohip received no financial benefit from doing so.
Mohip also had no direct connection to Curriculum Associates besides the fact that he used it while he was chief of academics at Chicago Public Schools.
“It’s not a question about the action itself, but it’s a question of how [one] takes the action,” Nick said.
Nick described three types of personal conflicts: an action that benefits ones’ own interest, a family member’s interest or a business associate’s interest.
A business associate is someone who is engaged in a for-profit activity, Nick explained.
If the ethics commission makes a finding, each case is reviewed on individual basis, with possible penalties ranging from voiding a contract to prosecution at the county level to even resignation.
School district spokeswoman Denise Dick said Mohip has no comment at this time.
Mohip was put in place in Youngstown by House Bill 70, commonly referred to as the Youngstown Plan, which was signed into law by Gov. John Kasich in July 2015. It enabled a state-appointed academic distress commission to hire a CEO to lead the district. The bill gives Mohip complete operational, managerial and instructional control.
Nick explained information such as the complaint from Valley lawmakers is reviewed by staff to ensure it falls under its jurisdiction.
This process can involve a back-and-forth process between the commission and the sender of the information to make sure the commission has a proper understanding of what is being asked.
“What we do is we determine conflicts of interest,” Nick said.