Ethics board urged to complete Walsh inquiry

Members of the Brookhaven Town board called on the town's ethics board to complete an inquiry of Deputy Supervisor Kathy Walsh Tuesday after the council appointed two new members to the ethics panel.

Councilwoman Jane Bonner in February asked the ethics board to issue an opinion about Walsh, who Bonner said shouldn't have voted on union matters facing the town board. Walsh's husband, Bill, is the president of the town's blue collar union.

With the appointment of new members William McQuaid Duffy and Ronald C. Manning to the five-member ethics panel, the ethics board should release an opinion about Walsh's actions soon, said town board member Dan Panico.

"It's good practice of the ethics board not to let things linger," he said.

Walsh, who is a member of the town board, also said she hopes the ethics board "wraps this up soon."

Bonner said Tuesday that she felt Walsh should not have voted in May 2008 when the town board appointed Joseph Guarino as the town's deputy commissioner of waste management. Guarino's promotion resulted in Bill Walsh receiving a $10,000 pay raise, Bonner said. He is president of the Civil Service Employees Association for Brookhaven Town's blue collar workers.

Bonner said she hopes the ethics board will issue a ruling soon.

"It's ethically conflicted to vote on matters involving people in your family," Bonner said. "Why cast that cloud?"

Bill Walsh, a sanitation site crew leader for the town, acknowledged that he was promoted to that position from construction equipment operator after Guarino became deputy commissioner. He declined to comment on the pay raise, and said Bonner "deserves an answer" to her inquiry.

Supervisor Mark Lesko named Kathy Walsh, a Republican, to the deputy supervisor post in April 2009.

The promotion gave Walsh a $30,000 annual raise. She has frequently voted in step with the three Democrats on the seven-member town board.

Bonner, who asked the ethics board to investigate Walsh, is a Conservative who caucuses with the Republicans.

Lesko said he has "never seen the complaint" against Walsh and declined to comment.

Manning and Duffy did not address the subject of the Walsh inquiry during a brief appearance before the town board Tuesday.

Ethics board member Kathryn Coward declined to comment on the case. Attempts to reach other ethics panel members were not successful.

Former ethics board Chairman Donald Garber, who was on the board when it began investigating Bonner's complaint, also declined to comment.