For the past four months, the Radnor Ethics Board has been actively investigating Radnor Third Ward Commissioner William Spingler. At issue is Commissioner Spingler’s connections with Villanova University, the thousands of dollars in checks and cash he has been paid for ushering services at Villanova basketball games, and the pro-Villanova votes and advocacy he has advanced, including an extremely controversial March 30, 2014 vote in favor of the Comprehensive Integrated College Development Use within the Planned Institution District (CICD). In order for the public to have any confidence in this investigation (which, regrettably and unlike prior ethics investigations, has taken place entirely behind closed doors and off the record) all actual and perceived ulterior motives of Ethics Board members should be eliminated.
To state that the ethics investigation has failed in this most basic of standards is an understatement. After the Ethics Board had already convened multiple times, one of its members, Elaine Paul Schaefer, as well as Township Solicitor John Rice, were forced to publicly recuse themselves when their own conflicts of interest associated with the underlying subject matter came to light. When stepping aside on April 24, 2014, Ms. Schaefer announced that Radnor First Ward Commissioner James Higgins had, “Graciously offered” to serve in her stead. In so doing, Mr. Higgins became the face of the Radnor Board of Commissioners on the Ethics Board.