DAVENPORT MAYOR LINDA RINER-MIZELL
Ethics Commission clears official of wrongdoing
Published: Friday, February 10, 2012 at 7:16 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, February 10, 2012 at 7:16 a.m.
DUNDEE - After nearly 10 months of investigation, the State Commission on Ethics has cleared Mayor Linda Riner-Mizell of allegations that she misused a town credit card to book a 2010 trip to Colorado.
"The complaint was dismissed with a finding of no probable cause," the commission stated in a press release issued Wednesday.
Riner-Mizell said Thursday she is relieved to have the issue laid to rest although she is not surprised by the commission's ruling.
"I didn't have any doubts as to what the ruling would be," she said.
But she's not sure whether she will run for re-election this April. She has until noon today to decide.
And although she doesn't plan on trying to have Andy Stewart removed as town manager, she does have concerns about the way he handled the situation.
"I've not had the opportunity to sit down with him one on one and see where he stands on being able to say 'I can be a manager that this town needs to have,' " Riner-Mizell said. "I stand by what I said in his evaluation. He is immature as in lack of experience and having things occur and not knowing how to handle it."
The ethics complaint against the mayor was filed March 7 by former Dundee Mayor Kevin Kitto. He said Riner-Mizell wasn't forthcoming with answers about her actions surrounding her use of the town credit card to book a trip to the National League of Cities Congress of Cities and Exposition from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, 2010, in Denver.
Riner-Mizell went to represent the Ridge League of Cities as its president.
Some council members questioned Riner-Mizell's honesty because her explanation about who authorized the trip and who was responsible for paying the $2,073 cost apparently changed several times.
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She has repeatedly said Stewart authorized her to speak with then Finance Director Martin Munger about booking the trip. Stewart maintains he didn't.
Riner-Mizell ultimately repaid the town, saying she took out a personal loan to do it.
The commission's ruling was made about five months after the State Attorney's Office cleared Riner-Mizell of criminal wrongdoing.
Kitto said he was notified last week of the Ethics Commission's ruling. While he accepts the decision, he doesn't agree with it.
"I think she misused the credit card. The biggest issue I had is that she misinformed the public as well as the commission she works for," Kitto said Wednesday. "I think she told them a lie. There was no talk of the League reimbursing her until after the fact."
Councilmen Randy Dowd and Sam Pennant, both outspoken critics of how Riner-Mizell handled the situation, are relieved to have closure.
"I'm glad there is no criminal or ethics charge to her credit card wrongdoing," said Dowd. "I am still somewhat surprised by her being untruthful when asked about the incident and all of that is documented on town tapes."
Pennant said he wasn't completely surprised by the commission's ruling.
"I'm not a legal scholar. I wasn't sure if there was anything there to warrant prosecution. I just thought it was something we needed to look at," Pennant said. "She was very slow in providing the information we were trying to get about what happened. It took the Ethics Commission to get it from her."
Dowd and Pennant have filed paperwork to run for mayor in April.
Riner-Mizell said she expects an apology from Pennant and Dowd for the accusations she said they made about her during council meetings dealing with the credit card issue.
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"I believe there were two gentlemen on that council who said they would offer apologies if what they said was not true. I do expect a public apology," Riner-Mizell said.
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