PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia Board of Ethics on Thursday announced the settlement of two complaints regarding failures to disclose certain property interests. One involves Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, and the other involves former Councilmember Allan Domb who is now running for mayor.
Both men agreed to pay $2,000 in penalties.
Domb is a major real estate broker in Center City and had an interest in the 2000 Arch Street building, which was the subject of two zoning changes while he was still in City Council. He abstained from voting on the zoning changes, as is required, but Ethics Board Executive Director Shane Creamer says that’s not enough.
“The rules require members of Council not only to abstain from taking any official action on matters they have a financial interest in, but also to publicly disclose the nature and extent of their financial interest in those matters so that the public will have knowledge and their colleagues will have that,” Creamer said.
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Domb noted, in an email, that he was unaware of the “technical requirement” that he state why he was abstaining, but he takes responsibility for the oversight:
“This week, I agreed to a settlement with the Philadelphia Board of Ethics regarding two votes I abstained from while a member of City Council on a property in which I held an ownership interest. Although I had repeatedly disclosed my ownership interest in the property in my annual statements of financial interest and recused myself from each vote, I was not aware of a technical requirement that I publicly detail why I was abstaining. I accept full responsibility for this oversight, which is why I agreed to this settlement.”
The other settlement, involving Johnson, had nothing to do with the federal bribery case against him for which he was recently acquitted of all charges.
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The ethics case stemmed, rather, from his failure to disclose income from a rental property he owns on 18th Street, near Tasker Street in Point Breeze, on two of his annual financial disclosure forms.
Earlier this year, Johnson amended his financial disclosure reports for 2020 and 2021 to show that the property generates more than $500 annually — the minimum amount requiring an income disclosure.
The disclosure requirement is important “so that people know potential conflicts of interest that may occur,” Creamer said.
In a statement, Johnson said he has amended his disclosure forms after an unintentional oversight.
"When the issue was brought to my attention back in June, I quickly realized it was an unintentional oversight on my part and I started the process immediately to amend my financial disclosure forms. I have amended my 2020 and 2021 Financial Disclosure forms. As stated in the agreement with the Ethics Board, there are no additional outstanding omissions on any of my City of Philadelphia Statements of Financial Interests."