The LuLac Edition #4,124, August 14th, 2019

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

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You hear complaints about nepotism all the time but no one seems to do anything about it. The Times Shamrock editorial board had this solution. Make it illegal. Here are their thoughts.

END NEPOTISM BY STATE LAW

The state Supreme Court will decide whether a township supervisor in Pike County will have to pay a $30,000 fine for an epic case of nepotism.
Regardless of that decision, the case also illustrates why local government nepotism should be banished as a matter of state law rather than local discretion.
The state Ethics Commission levied the fine against John P. Sivick, a longtime supervisor and the roadmaster for Lehman Twp., Pike County.
Lehman Twp. adopted an anti-nepotism policy in 2009, precluding anyone from working in a township position under the supervision of an immediate family member.
Supervisors repealed the policy in 2012 after Sivick spoke to his colleagues about hiring his son, J. Justin Sivick, for the same nine-member road crew that the elder Sivick supervised. With Sivick abstaining from both votes, the board repealed the nepotism ordinance and hired Sivick’s son for the road crew.
The position in question was classified as temporary/full time and was not advertised.
Supervisors hired J. Justin Sivick, disregarding his two convictions of driving under the influence of alcohol in the previous three years, which resulted in his license being suspended for 18 months. The younger Sivick became a permanent/full time employee.
But that series of events wasn’t even what drew the Ethics Commission’s attention. It acted on a complaint in 2015 that the roadmaster signed 79 of his son’s 81 time sheets.
The commission ordered the fine, which was upheld by a three-judge panel of the Commonwealth Court.
“Sivick initiated the improper scheme to have the township’s nepotism policy repealed and his son hired, which directly resulted in the township employing his son and Sivick approving his son’s payroll records,” wrote Judge Anne Covey for the three-judge panel.
That is not a description of good governance. The state Legislature should resolve the nepotism problem uniformly by outlawing it