Council president investigated by Ethics Commission says case was dismissed

WYOMING — The Wyoming borough council president was the focus of a State Ethics Commission investigation.

Michael Baloga acknowledged he was investigated over the construction of a driveway leading to his property on Shulde Lane, but said the State Ethics Act prohibited him from disclosing specifics.

“All I can actually say is it was dismissed and I was innocent,” Baloga said after the Aug. 9 council meeting.

The driveway was not on his property, Baloga said.

His limited comments may give the impression he’s trying to hide something, said Baloga, 48, a Republican seeking reelection to a fifth, four-year term. He added he isn’t, and only complying with the Act.

Attorney Peter Paul Olszewski Jr., who represented Baloga, also cited the Act as the reason for not discussing the investigation.

“The difficulty with me responding to you, as you probably know, there are very stringent confidentiality provisions surrounding the Ethics Act,” Olszewski said.

Baloga, on the other hand, was not bound by the same provisions, noted Melissa Melewsky, media counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association in Harrisburg.

The law doesn’t silence Baloga or anyone else who was under investigation, Melewsky said.

“They have a right to speak,” Melewsky said.

Section 1108 of the Act, dealing “Investigations by commission,” covers “Confidentiality,” and states: “As a general rule, no person shall disclose or acknowledge, to any other person, any information relating to a complaint, preliminary inquiry, investigation, hearing or petition for reconsideration which is before the commission.”

However, it also lists nine exceptions for disclosure, including “any information, records or proceedings relating to a complaint, preliminary inquiry, investigation, hearing or petition for reconsideration which the person is the subject of.”

“That provision is there so that the statute remains constitutionally sound,” Melewsky said, adding, “The Ethics Act can’t eviscerate the First Amendment.”

Baloga was notified of the exception and declined to reconsider talking about the case.

While Baloga followed the law to an apparent dead end on disclosure, a document he filed with the Commission opened another route of discovery.

The Commission requires elected officials to file an annual Statement of Financial Interests. On his 2020 filing Baloga listed as a gift the $2,500 insurance deductible paid by the borough for his legal representation.

Other than to provide copies of Baloga’s 2020 statement and the canceled check to the law firm of Scartelli Olszewski PC from Dec. 14, 2020 — sought by the Times Leader through Right to Know requests in July — the borough declined to comment.

The borough and the Commission denied other Right to Know requests. Files, materials or records of a noncriminal investigation were confidential and exempt from disclosure, they said. Furthermore, the Commission has not issued a Final Order or other public statement about the investigation.

Baloga abstained from voting at council’s online December meeting on the payment of the insurance deductible. As for why he included the payment on his financial interests filing, Baloga said, “I was just being safe, so I just put it down.”