Phila. officials report gifts from Peco

PHILADELPHIA An electric company's generosity was noted in the financial disclosure reports that city officials filed this week.

Peco and its parent company, Exelon Corp., gave at least $1,652 worth of gifts to Mayor Nutter, City Council members, and other officials, the reports show. The gifts, mostly tickets to dinner events, were disclosed in the 2013 reports that were due Thursday.

Out of 17 Council members who served last year - Bill Green has since quit to become chairman of the School Reform Commission - nine, including President Darrell L. Clarke, reported no gifts. Six reported some. Reports from two members were not available Friday.

The Records Department said it would upload all the disclosure reports, in which officials list sources of income and gifts, next week. The filings are required of elected officials and several dozen other employees, including department heads.

Some city employees were walking their forms in Friday afternoon, a day after the deadline.

The latest round of disclosures comes at a time of much discussion about gift regulation at the local and state levels.

Council passed an ordinance in March that bars city officers and employees from receiving cash gifts from anyone seeking business or official action, while allowing receipt of nonmonetary gifts worth up to $99 per donor per year. State legislators are considering a ban on cash gifts in the wake of an Inquirer report that four lawmakers accepted cash in an ill-fated sting investigation.

The 2013 disclosures showed that Peco gave Council members William K. Greenlee, Kenyatta Johnson, and Marian B. Tasco tickets to various shows and dinners. Nutter listed Peco as the source of a Pennsylvania Society dinner reception worth $610.

What interest does the utility company have in hosting city officials at such events?

"Occasionally, Peco, and other companies, include public officials as guests during community events as a business practice," Peco spokesman Ben Armstrong said in an e-mail, later adding that the invitations were not lobbying efforts.