A newly formed Chicago ethics board ruled Thursday that Mayor Harold Washington`s chief of staff, Ernest Barefield, and his wife can accept a free trip from American Airlines from Chicago to Paris because he`ll be working on international trade for the city.
The ruling was the first from the Board of Ethics that Washington created after a federal investigation into City Hall corruption began.
Barefield had asked the board to determine whether the trip, scheduled for May 1, would violate provisions of a mayoral executive order. The order has imposed tough conflict-of-interest rules on city employees, but doesn`t apply to the city`s aldermen.
Also Thursday, Gov. James Thompson`s chief of staff, James Reilly, amended the statement of economic interest he has filed with the state to show that he accepted a free airline ticket in 1985, according to David Fields, Thompson`s press secretary. Reilly`s original filing on March 25 hadn`t disclosed the free trip, an omission Fields called ”an oversight.”
Another top Washington aide, Michael Holewinski, said Thursday that he hadn`t listed the free European trip and free lodging that he and his wife received in 1985 on his recently filed statement of economic interest because the trip was business-related. State law requires that all elected officials disclose any gifts worth more than $500 on their annual ethics statements.
”I just think it wasn`t necessary to disclose it since I was acting in my official capacity,” said Holewinski, who also described the trip as ”a social event.”
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As many as six Chicago aldermen also took the 1985 trip with their wives, worth about $1,500 per couple. Aldermen Edward Burke (14th), Richard Mell
(33d), Bernard Stone (50th) and Fred Roti (1st) have either disclosed the trip on their ethics statements or said they would do so.
Earlier this month, the airline again invited the aldermen, the lieutenant governor`s office, city officials and others to partake in a round of free European trips.
Holewinski told the ethics board on Thursday that he has written American Airlines, declining to use free tickets which were offered to him and some 400 other persons who attended a recent company-sponsored banquet. Holewinski said there was a major difference between being asked by the airline to represent the mayor, as he was in the 1985 trip, and this year`s offer of free tickets to fly at his convenience.
Donald Benedict, ethics board chairman, noted that the airline`s two-year practice of offering free trips, when not connected to official city business, gives the ”general public” the ”appearance of impropriety.”