Head of Philly’s city commissioners fined $4,000 to settle ethics case

The chairman of the Philadelphia City Commissioners said he’s looking forward to re-election this fall, now that he’s settled conflict of interest violations with the Philadelphia Board of Ethics.

Anthony Clark will pay $4,000 to settle allegations that he violated conflict of interest rules concerning a short-lived raise for his brother Alex. While the raise was supposed to give Alex Clark nearly $5,000 more per year, it was rescinded so quickly that it reportedly netted him less than $300.

Clark, who also conceded he did not cooperate with the ethics board investigation, had been accused of threatening retaliation against a colleague who was cooperating with the probe.

Attorney Jimmie Moore said Monday voters should still have full confidence in Clark despite what he described as “technical violations” of ethics laws by his client.

“There are glitches, we make mistakes, we move on. Hopefully, the citizenry of Philadelphia will understand that, which I think they will because Philadelphia is that type of town,” Moore said.

After easily winning the May primary, Clark will be on the ballot this fall for another term overseeing Philadelphia elections.