Where there was once confusion and uncertainty, the Office of State Ethics appears to have found clarity and answers.
The start of October marked an important crossroads for the office. At the end of September, the terms of three members of its advisory board would end. There was still no replacement for outgoing executive director Benjamin Bycel. And there were no answers.
Those answers started to appear just last week when the Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board announced it has selected Beverly Hodgson as the office’s interim director.
Hodgson was a Superior Court Judge from 1987 to 2003 and has since become an arbitrator and mediator.
Patricia Hendel, the former chairperson of the advisory board, said that Hodgson would serve on a part-time basis for the next two months as the board continues its aggressive search for a full-time replacement.
The Office of State Ethics has been running smoothly in the past several weeks even if it has not been easy on staff.
“We’ve been operating pretty well because the staff that is here has really stepped up and worked extra hard,” Hendel said. “I’m in contact with the staff almost every day and my successor…will likely do so as well.”
The timeframe for having a new executive director in place is far from concrete, though Hendel is cautiously optimistic.
“Personally, I would hope that we would have one in place by November,” she said. “Some people have told me that things like this can take a long time and it could take longer. I would hope that if we’re not 100 percent certain that we’ve found someone, that we would wait another couple weeks to find that right person.”
Vacancies Remain
With an interim executive director in place and hope springing for a full-time one by the end of the year, it would seem the Office of State Ethics has gotten everything in order.
But not everything is as cut and dry as it appears.
On Sept. 30, the terms of chairwoman Hendel, and board members Rebecca Doty and Scott Storms expired.
During its meeting on Sept. 27, the board voted to make Robert Worgaftik chairman after he had served as the board’s vice chairman. Board member Enid Oresman was selected to now serve as vice chairwoman.
There is a slight problem for the board moving forward because there are currently two empty seats. And no one knows who will fill those spots or when.
Finding a replacement for Doty was easy. House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, had to appoint a replacement and he simply reappointed Doty.
The other two are to be appointed by Speaker of the House James Amann, D-Milford, and House Minority Leader Lawrence Carefo, R-Norwalk.
Amann’s office and Cafero’s office did not respond about who would be appointed.
When it comes to the status of the advisory board and the future membership, maybe not all the answers have been procured.
“We don’t know who our next board members will be,” said Cynthia Isales, Office of State Ethics’ assistant general counsel.
“It’s the first time since I’ve been here that we’re going through this and I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Barbara Housen, general counsel for the office.
Before her term expired, Hendel was in the dark on who would follow her and was disappointed that the board was not given any information.
“My answer is, don’t ask me,” said Hendel. “I don’t know. I have no information as to who my successor would be.”
It would seem the answer could lie in the governor’s office, but Eric Ducey, with Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s communications office, said the decisions are not made there.
“The three board members who have terms expiring were not appointed by the governor,” Ducey said. “Usually when the terms expire, they keep serving until someone else is appointed or they are reappointed.”
That does not appear to be the case. In a statement announcing the selection of an interim director, Hendel indicated that she had attended her last meeting.
Sean O’Leary is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.
