City Council candidate Derek Green hit with ethics violations

DEREK GREEN, who in February resigned as an aide to City Councilwoman Marian Tasco to run for Council, is heavily favored to be elected in November.

But despite his 11 years of experience in city government, Green, an attorney, managed to violate city ethics laws four times before he resigned and formally became a candidate, according to the Philadelphia Board of Ethics.

For the violations, Green agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1,200, according to the settlement agreement he and the board reached last week.

Green was flagged for agreeing to attend four fundraisers in 2013 and 2014 sponsored by the Green Fund, a state-registered political action committee.

Because he was still a city employee during those years, his involvement with the fundraisers violated city ethics rules.

Attempts to reach Green yesterday were not successful.

The Green Fund's treasurer, Gregory Davis, has said in published reports that the fund was not created specifically for Green, but rather to support the election of a variety of progressive federal, state and local candidates.

Still, when Green resigned his Council job on Feb. 13, he authorized the fund to "receive contributions on behalf of his candidacy," according to the Ethics Board settlement.

The Green Fund events Green attended or planned to attend in violation of city law were:

* July 18, 2013, at XIX Restaurant, on the 19th floor of the Hyatt at the Bellevue in Center City, during which he gave a speech;

* Feb. 20, 2014, at the same restaurant, where he was scheduled to attend an event but did not due to a family death;

* July 16, 2014, at the Capital Grille in Center City, during which he did not make a speech;

* Nov. 12, 2014, at XIX Restaurant, during which he did not make a speech.

In separate matters, the Ethics Board announced that it had reached settlement agreements with the Green Fund and with the Communications Workers of America Committee on Political Education.

Davis and the Green Fund agreed to pay a civil penalty of $2,000 for failing to list all contributions and expenditures from the 2015 cycle 2 campaign-finance report that was due in May.

The Washington-based Communications Workers PAC agreed to pay $1,500 for failing to file a campaign-finance report on time in June.