DiCiccio calls for end to taxpayer funded trips, nepotism

Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio on Tuesday called for significant reforms at City Hall by calling for new guidelines on taxpayer-funded trips, ending lobbyist nepotism and implementing policies to end personal ties between elected officials and their staffs. “I led the charge for a gift ban on politicians and now it is time to take on the abuse of taxpayer money for lavish trips taken by politicians. Also, City Hall should be free of lobbyist nepotism and personal intimate relationships between elected officials and staff should be stopped”, said DiCiccio.

In a letter addressed to Mayor Stanton and City Manager David Cavazos, DiCiccio called for specific reforms for accountability and transparency.

In his letter, DiCiccio urged the City to adopt a policy to end the practice of city politicians having staff members who have an interest in lobbying firms for profit, address intimate and business relationships between a politician and his/her staff, and adopt new guidelines for taxpayer funded trips by politicians and their staff.

DeCiccio says that “elected officials should be involved in public policy matters; however our staff should not have an interest in for-profit lobbying firms or special interests that lobby City Hall.”

He wants to make politicians accountable for the public dollars they spend and to stop associations with lobbying firms for profit who are owned by city staff or their families.

“Staff members should be prohibited from having direct or indirect ties to lobbying firms that operate for profit, and specifically, firms with ties to special interests that lobby City Hall. This is unethical and very problematic to say the very least,” said DiCiccio in a statement released Tuesday. “I believe we should, and have an obligation to move a public policy agenda forward as soon as possible that addresses these key issues.”

Earlier this year, DiCiccio sent a letter to the Mayor Stanton regarding the issues, and according to DiCiccio, the Mayor had not responded to the question of staff ties to lobbying firms, politician funded trips or, another area of concern, business or intimate relationships between politicians and staff.

DiCiccio wants a policy to include:

• Public notice of any trip a politician goes on, the cost of the trip broken down by specific categories such as entertainment and meals, flight costs, etc.

• Require an accounting of the trip on how much of the day was spent in meetings, phone calls etc., where the dollars came from for the trip and the staff that accompanied the politician on the trip and their specific costs broken down by category.