Carney Resigns From Charter Panel To Avoid Conflict

By Steve Bigham

Republican first selectman candidate Owen Carney has announced his resignation from the Charter Revision Commission after the Newtown Board of Ethics last week unanimously ruled that his participation on the charter panel might give the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Mr Carney had requested the Board of Ethics hearing and took the decision in stride.

 “It wasn’t a surprise. I look at it as a member of the public could look at it and say this guy’s running for first selectman and also sitting on a commission that is looking at making changes to the structure of government,” Mr Carney said.

In rendering its decision, the Board of Ethics said there would be an appearance of a conflict, although any proposed charter changes would not go into effect until after the election of 2003.

“After our consideration of the situation there is an appearance of a conflict of interest in having Owen Carney continue as a member of the Charter Revision Commission while he is also the Republican-endorsed candidate for first selectman,” the board ruled.

The motion was made by member Helen Krueger, who serves on the panel along with David Nanavaty, chairman, Deborah Deakin, and Lynn McGrath.

In reaching its advisory opinion, the Board of Ethics said it realized that the work of the Charter Revision Commission might go beyond the date of the November election. The conflict arises not only out of the appearance of the person running for the office of first selectman working on a charter that affects the powers and duties of the first selectman, but also if elected to that position, Mr Carney would be faced with a situation where he would have to resign from the commission. Therefore, the panel said, there is no conflict of interest at this time because of the makeup of the Charter Revision Commission, but there is the potential for a direct conflict of interest.

Mr Carney steps down from a charter panel that has recommended considerable changes to town government, including giving more power to the first selectman, eliminating the Board of Selectmen, and creating a board of finance to work with the first selectman and Legislative Council on finance issues.

“I think that they’ve done a lot of work, worked hard, and come up with a lot of good ideas,” Mr Carney said. “The tough part is selling [the proposed changes] to the general public. It’s going to be an uphill battle. Some will say this is a good idea, but I don’t like this and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Times change, however, and some say the government is in need of repair.”

Mr Carney believes the Charter Revision Commission will do a good job in their efforts to explain their proposed changes to the public.

“If there’s any one group who can get their ideas across and be successful it’s them because they’re not only doing it, they believe in it,” he said.

Mr Carney, a retired Newtown Police Department captain, announced his candidacy for first selectman in March.