Former SCC prez fined $40k
Published 11:49 am Friday, February 22, 2008
The state Executive Ethics Board has fined former Shoreline Community College President Gary Oertli $40,000 for violating state ethics laws when he led the college to award a $350,000 contract to a friend.
In lieu of going to court in May, Oertli has agreed to pay of $20,000 of the $40,000 civil penalty fee for breaking state ethic laws — the other $20,000 the board suspended unless Oertli commits an ethics violation again.
Oertli will also pay an additional $10,000 for investigation costs associated with the case.
This is the largest penalty ever brought against an individual, said Brian Malarky, Executive Ethics Board director.
Oertli served as president of Shoreline Community College (SCC) from 1995 to 2000 and now is the President of the University of Washington Alumni Association, a voluntary position.
The fine is for violations associated with Oertli helping SCC award contracts to develop the schools online bookstore and registration system to Paul Mauel, a personal friend of Oertli’s, and for a sideline pass that Mauel gifted to Oertli to a Seattle Seahawks vs. Green Bay Packers game in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The order absolved Oertli of any wrongdoing related to his subsequent employment with eWerkz, owned by Mauel.
Records show that in January 1999 Oertli was introduced to Mauel and the two developed an intimate friendship and socialized frequently through the remainder of Oertli’s tenure at SCC.
In June 1999, Oertli executed a contract of $2,400 for Mauel to provide recommendations for developing an online bookstore for SCC. In August Oertli executed a second contract with Mauel for $19,099 to provide a feasibility study on implementing an online bookstore.
According to the records, Oertli wanted to move forward with an online bookstore and link it to registration, and Mauel attended meetings where the bidding language for the contract was developed.
The linkage between registration and online bookstore was omitted from the bidding language when the college began collecting bids on the project. Mauel’s bid was the only one that discussed this feature.
Before the college awarded the contract, Oertli met personally with the selection committee and discussed the importance of the linkage between registration and ordering books online.
Mauel was awarded the contract in September 1999 for $350,000, and subsequently formed the company eWerkz.
The board found Oertli in violation of ethics laws for manipulating the bidding process.
Oertli argued that he was misled by Mauel and was relying on the advice and council of Assistant Attorney General assigned to Shoreline at that time and that any ethics violations were unintentional, his attorney, Cliff Freed, said.
Six months after the contract was signed, Oertli resigning from SCC to accept a job offer from eWerkz as out-of-state Marketing Director for $184,000 a year, an $80,000 bonus and use of the company’s Mercedes, the record states.
The board determined the Oertli did not break ethics laws in accepting the employment.
In April 1999, before any contracts were signed, Mauel and Oertli began making plans to attend a Seattle Seahawks vs. Green Bay Packers game in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Mauel offered Oertli the opportunity to sit in the stands or to stand on the sidelines with press passes Mauel was able to obtain through his friendship with the Seahawks’ Director of Public Relations.
In November 1999 the two attended the game and Oertli paid all of his own expenses including hotel, airfare and meals and told the Seahawks’ Director of Public Relations that he wanted to pay for the sideline pass, but his request was denied and he was told he could not pay for it, the record states.
“He did everything he could to pay for the ticket, but the Seahawks would not accept payment,” said Oertli’s attorney Cliff Freed.
“Although a pass cannot be purchased from the Seahawks, it does have significant value to fans,” the Board’s order stated and found him in violation of ethics law in accepting the gift.
