Henrietta ethics board passes on Moore matter

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It took 2 hours and 53 minutes Wednesday morning for Henrietta Board of Ethics members to ponder their first case since being formed last year.

The four-person committee met privately to discuss comments that town Supervisor Jack Moore made last month in which he called African-Americans "city cousins."

And what the committee uncovered was ... nothing.

"The matter is outside of our jurisdiction," board member Thomas Dietz announced to a handful of residents and local media members. Dietz said the board's function is to serve in an advisory and not a judicial capacity.

Moore's voice was taped by a Department of Public Works employee on April 10 while he was speaking with two town employees. In an audio first obtained and aired by WHAM-TV (Channel 13), Moore is heard criticizing the Affordable Care Act and says, "You don't know about cousins in the city? We get all kinds of them, they bus them out here, OK?"

When a town employee asks about the health care law, Moore says, "This Obamacare, I think that's how we're going to pay for your cousins in the city."

Donald Youngman, a 36-year town employee and the town of Henrietta highway superintendent, overheard the comments from another room in the DPW building and filed a complaint with the board of ethics.

Moore has apologized several times since his comments became public and has taken diversity training sessions. Although many public officials have called for him to resign, including Monroe County Republican chairman Bill Reilich, Moore has refused, saying he was elected to serve and will continue to do so.

He is running for another two-year term in November. Moore's secretary, Meribeth Palmer, said Wednesday that the supervisor was tied up in meetings all day and would not comment or issue a statement on the board's decision.

The board originally was not going to meet until June but bowed to public pressure and moved it to Wednesday.

The committee was formed by Moore himself and is composed of volunteers. One member recused himself because he works for the town. Another resigned due to work constraints.

That left Dietz, Phil Mancini, Sue Eisel-Brown and John Schmitt to head into a private room at 9 a.m. and come back nearly three hours later with its decision.

"The Henrietta Board of Ethics is advisory only," Dietz read from a statement. "To render advisory opinion generally relating to questions of conflicts of interest. We further resolve that the Henrietta Board of Ethics is not vested with the authority to hear complaints or address complaints.

"The Henrietta Board of Ethics finds that the matter is outside the jurisdiction and that the Board of Ethics has no authority to rule on it."

The board suggested in its statement that Youngman take his concern to the town of Henrietta directly, citing a provision in the town handbook. That drew a sardonic laugh from Simeon Banister, the Henrietta Democratic Committee town leader, who held the handbook in his right hand and noted that the employee with the complaint should advise the town supervisor.

If the supervisor is the subject of the complaint, the handbook says the person filing the complaint should "notify the directory of finance/human resources or the town supervisor directly."

"We wish the committee had had the guts and fortitude to do something," Banister said. "But they didn't. They chose to punt."

Youngman did not immediately return a message asking for comment.

Later in the day, the Henrietta Democratic Committee issued a statement that read in part: "The Ethics Board's failure to fulfill its duty is another example of how Henrietta's town government is broken under Supervisor Jack Moore. Racism, sexism and discrimination against people living with disabilities are serious, nonpartisan issues, which we must work together to address."

Banister said he expects to announce his party's candidate for town supervisor "in the next few days." He vowed to "turn over every stone and comb every neighborhood" to let the people of Henrietta know that Moore is unfit for office.

Henrietta resident Jill Mangino began weeping when it became clear no action would be taken against Moore. Her husband, Scott, has worked for the town for 33 years. She says several town employees have been bullied by Moore. In fact, a bumper sticker on her silver Chevrolet Suburban says "No Moore bullying."

"It just isn't right," Mangino said. "He is not fit for office. He is an evil man."

She was accompanied by her 20-year-old daughter Victoria Mangino, who held a sign that read "No Moore Racism."

"It's unacceptable for someone who is supposed to represent all of the people to have these views," Victoria Mangino said.

Eitan Sirkovich, 18, graduated from Rush-Henrietta High School last year and also was in attendance.

"I've lived here my entire life, and I'm involved in my community," he said. "It's an extremely diverse community. It's really a problem when the leader only represents people who share his same values.

"It hurts me, but I can only imagine how it affects people of color that their supervisor doesn't represent them. It could be a slip of the tongue, but it also shows something inside you."

JMAND@DemocratandChronicle.com