Lawyer, retired judge likely nominees to Philadelphia Ethics Board

Mayor Nutter is expected to nominate retired Superior Court Judge Phyllis W. Beck and lawyer Michael H. Reed to the city's Board of Ethics as early as Thursday.

They would replace Sister Mary Scullion, who resigned in January, and Damone B. Jones, a West Philadelphia pastor about to resign.

Beck was the first woman on the state Superior Court, and she chaired a commission in the late 1980s that recommended major changes to the state's judicial system.

She also has taught law at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, where she was vice dean of the law school. Beck is the mother-in-law of city Finance Director Rob Dubow.

Reed is a bankruptcy lawyer at the Pepper Hamilton firm and a past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Council would have to confirm Beck and Reed.

Turnover on the independent five-member Ethics Board has been high since it was established in 2006. Council confirmed the latest members, lawyers William H. Brown III and Sanjuanita Gonzalez, Dec. 16.

That leaves Chairman Richard Glazer as the only experienced member of the board, which enforces city campaign-finance, financial-disclosure, and conflict-of-interest laws. The board can give ethics advice, launch investigations, and levy fines.