Auditor General DePasquale: Ethics Commission Fines Former Luzerne County Elections Director in Case Referred by His Department
July 27 2020
Auditor General DePasquale: Ethics Commission Fines Former Luzerne County Elections Director in Case Referred by His Department
HARRISBURG (July 27, 2020) – Auditor General Eugene DePasquale today said the state Ethics Commission, acting on a referral he made, has fined the former Luzerne County elections director for failing to disclose her ties to an equipment vendor before suggesting the county purchase its electronic poll book system from that company.
“The Ethics Commission ruling backs up what I felt about this case from the start,” DePasquale said. “Public officials must be completely transparent when making recommendations about purchasing, and failing to disclose a relationship with a vendor violates the state’s Ethics Act.”
The commission found Marisa Crispell had failed to report that she had accepted trips from Election Systems & Software while serving on an advisory board for the company. In its ruling, the commission fined Crispell $3,500 and also ordered her to pay $500 toward the cost of investigation.
Crispell resigned from her county position in September 2019.
The Luzerne County case led DePasquale to conduct a deeper review that found officials in 18 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties reported accepting gifts, meals or trips from firms that were competing to sell new voting machines to counties ahead of the 2020 election.
“I feel strongly that county officials who are making decisions that involve spending taxpayer dollars should not accept anything of value from the companies that are seeking their business, even if it’s only a donut or a cup of coffee,” DePasquale said when releasing his report last year.
Learn more about the Department of the Auditor General online at www.PaAuditor.gov.
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