Ethics

Glendale’s ongoing traffic-safety issues and the potential for an ethics ordinance took center stage Monday at the City Council election forum hosted by the League of Women Voters. Former Glendale Mayor Glendale Mayor Rafi Manoukian, self described “city watchdog” Mike Mohill, perennial candidate Chahe Keuroghelian and City Hall newcomer Garen Mailyan are challenging incumbents Dave Weaver and John Drayman for two seats in the April 5 election. Roughly 50 people filled the City Council Chambers Monday evening for the forum, which was hosted by the League of Women Voters Glendale/Burbank and moderated by Chris Carson, the league’s co-president.

If a teenager observes a schoolmate and standout athlete consuming alcohol at a party the night before a big game, should he intervene? If a girl knows a friend is digitally harassing a third party, posting nasty messages on social networking sites, should she report it? Those were among the questions directed to 100 local high school students on Wednesday at the 26th annual Youth Leadership Conference at Glendale Community College. The conference — hosted by The Character and Ethics Project, a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to advancing good character and business practices — provides a forum wherein successful professionals and youth discuss character and ethical decision making.

Already facing criminal charges in a separate case, campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee was fined Thursday by the state's ethics watchdog agency for failing to properly report $76,000 in spending by the unsuccessful Assembly campaign of Stuart Waldman in 2008. The state Fair Political Practices Commission approved $8,000 in fines against Durkee and Waldman, who is now president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. in Los Angeles. The penalty was also for a charge that Waldman failed to deposit personal funds in a campaign bank account before his committee incurred expenses and that he and Durkee failed to properly report vendor information for about $173,013 in payments.  L.A. TIMES

The head of the state's ethics agency Friday proposed new measures to prevent fraud in the handling of political funds in response to a federal investigation of Kinde Durkee, who is suspected of embezzling from campaign accounts she controlled. In addition, Fair Political Practices Commission Chairwoman Ann Ravel said politicians affected by the investigation would receive some leeway in meeting financial reporting requirements. Attorneys for politicians told Ravel at a hearing near the Capitol on Friday that financial records needed to make those reports have been withheld by banks, and they expressed concern that other needed documents possessed by Durkee have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury.

The red voicemail light on my phone Friday morning looked ominous. I had arrived a bit before 8 am, having left at about 7 pm the night before. People do not normally call me so close to dawn without there being some sort of an issue. As much as I'd love to believe people will call to complement us on a pithy headline or our ability to spell words correctly, it just doesn't happen. On the voicemail was Glendale Councilman John Drayman, who expressed his concern regarding a political ad that had run on the forum page of that morning's paper.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- The role of ethics in the family is the topic of a forum being broadcast on local cable television. "Issues Facing Today's Family," which debuted Monday on Glendale Government Access Channel 6, is the first of four forums on ethics planned this year as part of the Character and Ethics Project. The project is a campaign organized by community leaders in an effort to improve the quality of life in the city by promoting good character and ethical choices.

Business ethics may seem like an oxymoron but to the mentors at the 21st Annual Youth, Leadership, and the Future Conference, the two terms go hand in hand. "Making right choices is something you have to do your whole life," said John R. Jell, author and business development manger for Nestle USA. The conference is an official event of the Character and Ethics Project in coordination with the Burbank, Glendale, and La Ca“ada Unified School Districts. Jell, keynote speaker at the conference, spoke to a room full of high school students and mentors from all areas of business.

Judy Seckler GLENDALE -- Members of the Character & Ethics Project got together for their monthly awards program on Thursday to honor several members of the community for their acts of loyalty. The organization has assigned a character trait for each month. Loyalty was the quality honored for the month of April where local businesses and youths were awarded certificates for displaying outstanding morals. The organization composed of the Glendale and foothills community strives to recognize exceptional moral character and individual self-improvement.

Gary Moskowitz GLENDALE -- Watching her father's involvement in a campaign for mandatory seat belts in Missouri had an affect on Pam Ellis as a child. Ellis, elected to the Glendale school board in 1995, is now also the executive director of Glendale's Character & Ethics Project. Ellis was named executive director by a six-member search committee Monday. Ellis also serves on the boards of the Glendale Human Relations Coalition, Atwater Park Center and the Alex Film Society.

Global ethics and moral perspicacity were the main items of conversation at the James Thomas home in La Crescenta on a recent Sunday when a reunion luncheon was given for friends who attended the International Global Ethics and Youth Ambassador Symposium in Beijing, China this last July. Among the guests were friends from La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Glendale, Montebello, Temple City, Sierra Madre and China. They recalled their many experiences beginning in Shanghai where they first visited a deaf school for children to see spectacular dance performances presented by them in spite of their inability to hear.