Commission Recommends No Action Against Dusenbery
In a report to the Board of Aldermen Tuesday, the Parkville Ethics Commission recommended that no action be taken against former Mayor Kathy Dusenbery in an alleged violation of the city’s ethics ordinance.
The complaint, filed by downtown businessman David Williams, alleged that Dusenbery violated the city’s ordinance prohibiting campaigning while using their official city title. Dusenbery forwarded an e-mail to 15 recipients that contained political messages from then alderman Gerry Richardson and Riss Lake resident Gordon Cook. Cook had written a letter in support of Richardson’s opponent Hutsler and was critical of city leadership. While Dusenbery forwarded the e-mail from her personal computer and did not include a message of her own, it did contain her electronic signature which included her title as mayor of Parkville and the City Hall phone number. That, Williams argued, was a violation of the law.
The ethics commission stated that including her title as mayor was “improper” but did recommend any action in the matter.
“Ms. Dusenbery’s actions were not portrayed as the official action of the entire Board of Aldermen, any City commission or committee and, thus, would not likely be interpreted as official City action,” the commission stated in a statement. “The email was forwarded from another source, a non-governmental source; Ms. Dusenbery was not the author of the email, and added no comment. There is no evidence this forwarding was an endorsement of Mr. Richardson. There is no evidence of personal or financial gain. As a result of our findings, the commission recommends no further action on the complaint.”
The statement was read by commission chair Andres Dominguez, who also pointed out that the recommendation was only an “advisory” one and that the Board of Aldermen could vote to have the matter forwarded to the city prosecutor. The aldermen accepted the report without any discussion and no move was made to pursue the complaint later in the meeting.