Fishy timing: SDOT’s Scott Kubly concerned about wallet, not ethics

Scott Kubly may have learned his lesson about hiring former colleagues with taxpayer money, but KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz believes it’s less about ethical concerns than it is about the impact to his wallet.

Kubly, the director of the Seattle Department of Transportation, recently accepted a $5,000 fine as punishment for a conflict of interest; Kubly worked to have the city purchase the bike-share program owned by a company he once worked for. Kubly apologized, saying he inadvertently emailed a conflict of interest statement to himself rather than through the proper channels. Kubly would owe another $5,000 if he’s found to violate another ethics violation.

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Days after being hit with the first fine, The Seattle Times found that Kubly disclosed the fact that in March of 2015, he hired his former boss – Gabe Klein – to give a “Future of Transportation in Cities” speech at Seattle Central Library.

Klein was reportedly paid more than $6,000 — $5,000 in speaker fees, plus a first-class flight to and from Seattle and a rental car – for the speech. The Times reports that Kubly also hired Klein to work as a consultant for the city last November. That contract was estimated to pay Klein more than $8,000.

Rantz couldn’t help but notice the fishy timing of this admission.

“They say it was out of an abundance of caution as if this wasn’t a reasonable request to let everybody know and put this on the public record that you’re hiring your former boss,” Rantz said. “As if that’s not a legitimate thing to do.”

“No, Kubly did this because he feared that his lackadaisical attitude toward disclosing things that we absolutely have the right to know would end up costing him another $5,000.”

Rantz credits people and news agencies for continually submitting public disclosure requests on Kubly and other city officials.

“How much of this is happening that we don’t know about? Half the time, the only reason we know about these things is because of a public disclosure request. We can be the watchdogs. We can make sure that he is behaving in a way that is responsible with our dollars. And part of that system relies on the honesty and the willingness of people like Scott Kubly to disclose this information. Because, to me, it sounds like he’s trying to cover his own butt because he fears that maybe he violated another rule. And remember what happens if you violate another rule — you get hit with another $5,000 fee.”

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