Kennedy Was Spared Financial Disclosure as a Top Aide at City Schools (NYT 1/3)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/nyregion/04disclose.html

Kennedy Was Spared Financial Disclosure as a Top Aide at City Schools

By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
Published: January 3, 2009

Like it or not, roughly 7,000 employees of New York City file 32-page disclosure forms each year divulging personal information about their family finances in an effort to bolster confidence in open government.

But when Caroline Kennedy was employed by the city Department of Education from 2002 to 2004, as the chief executive of the Office of Strategic Partnerships, she was not required to file, even though two people who worked for her had to disclose information about their finances.

...

City officials have most often pointed to Ms. Kennedy’s decision to accept $1-a-year in salary. More recently, Joel I. Klein, chancellor of New York’s schools, explained that she was ultimately exempt from the requirement because the department did not deem her to be a “policymaker.”

On Friday, Ms. Kennedy’s spokesman, Stefan Friedman, declined to comment on the issue.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a billionaire who takes $1 a year from the city, is required to file disclosure forms each year. At least three of his appointees who have worked for nothing over the years have also filed — a sometimes awkward process, but one intended to serve as a conflict-of-interest safeguard for city officials and the public.

...

Until 2004, public servants were generally required to file disclosure forms if they were officers or directors of agencies or if their salaries indicated high-level responsibility. That year, the city was able to shrink the rolls of those required to file by scrapping the salary test, and instead declaring that anyone holding a policymaking position had to file, regardless of income.


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It really cracks me up to see some who screamed about finacial accountability for others accepting this for Caroline.