Kellogg Prof. Allan Drebin would face a significant conflict of interest if elected to Evanston City Council as First Ward alderman, according to a legal opinion released by incumbent Ald. Arthur Newman.
The opinion, crafted by attorneys for Newman and released in response to one made public by Drebin last week, concludes that the professor would have to abstain from voting on all issues concerning Northwestern because he is an employee of the university.
Drebin’s legal opinion contends that the university holds no financial sway over him because Drebin has tenure, is not an administrator and is not on the Board of Trustees.
“There are problems with his candidacy related to his affiliation with the university,” Newman said. “He tries to laugh it off, but he doesn’t realize that the city of Evanston has a very high ethical tradition.”
Newman cited a clause in the Evanston Code of Ethics that defines conflict of interest as having “a financial or other personal interest, direct or indirect,” in the issue being considered.
Charles Staley, the chairman of the city’s Board of Ethics, said the issue has not been presented to his board. He declined to comment on any aspect of the situation.
Newman’s opinion quotes a 1924 Illinois Supreme Court case, Pearsall v. Sperry, which dealt with conflicts of interest. In that case, the court said, “officers of the city who are also employees of the contractor must be considered as indirectly interested in the contract,” even if he or she would not directly benefit from the outcome.
Because of the court case and the code of ethics, Newman said, Drebin would not be able to vote in decisions involving NU.
“On some very important issues, the First Ward would be without an alderman,” Newman said. “I’m not sure that Drebin has the qualifications that would make that compromise worthwhile.”
Newman also cited a section of the ethics code that prohibits a public official from accepting “private employment ? (that) creates a conflict with or impairs the proper discharge of his official duties.”
Drebin, reached in Tampa, Fla., while on vacation, took issue with the court case cited in Newman’s opinion. The word “contract,” he said, cannot be extended to include all issues involving the university.
“This law is very narrow,” Drebin said. Instead of focusing on all issues related to NU, he said, “it focuses on contracts.”
He said aldermen rarely have to vote on actual contracts with NU. And if he were faced with such a situation, Drebin said, he would recuse himself.
“This is really making a mountain out of a molehill,” he said. “I don’t think this is an important issue.”
Drebin also criticized Newman’s opinion, which is not signed by his attorney, Robert Bush, and is not printed on the law firm’s letterhead.
“If this were a student’s paper, I would give it a C-minus,” he said.
Drebin’s attorney, Jerry Torshen, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Also, Drebin questioned the attention Newman has given this issue in recent weeks.
“It seems really strange that he’s concentrating on that,” he said. “A lot of students ought to be concerned about an alderman who has such a vendetta against the university.”
Newman said that although he wants voters to consider any potential conflicts of interest when they make their choice in April, he is not aiming to get Drebin to drop out of the race.
“That’s not the intention,” Newman said.
