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By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@leader.net
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 Page: 3A
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – District Justice Michael Dotzel needed an
administrative secretary, so he recommended his sister-in-law, Joan Dotzel,
for the job.
The Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas concurred with his suggestion and
recently enacted a court order hiring her for the job that pays $21,100 per
year plus benefits.
Dotzel said it’s not a conflict of interest because he didn’t have the last
word on the hiring. He said he interviewed three other candidates for the
post, but they weren’t interested.
Dotzel said he asked the court to hire his sister-in-law because she has
accounting and secretarial experience. He said his input is crucial because he
must be comfortable with whomever is hired.
“It’s like a tipstaff. We get to pick. You have to have somebody you can
trust who can do the job,” Dotzel said.
Dotzel thought twice about choosing his sister-in-law, saying he thought
the public might consider it nepotism.
“Then I thought, that’s wrong too. I decided if I have to take it, I have
to take it. It would’ve been an injustice not to hire her.”
Nobody has questioned or second-guessed his recommendation, Dotzel said.
County Register of Wills Dorothy Stankovic caught serious heat from county
officials in 2001 when she hired her sister as a clerk in her office. The
state ethics law forbids a public official to use the authority of his office
for the private financial benefit of himself or a member of his immediate
family.
However, the law doesn’t include sister-in-law in the definition of
“immediate family,” the state Ethics Commission said Tuesday.
Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at
831-7333.