Pocono News Section

Ethics Questions Surround Senator Mellow

Ethics Questions Surround Senator Mellow - Monday, July 13, 2009 at 6:17PM EST

Reported by: Jeff Chirico
Monday, Jul 13, 2009 @ 06:17pm EST
PECKVILLE, LACKAWANNA COUNTY --Some ethics questions are swirling after a newspaper article takes aim at the state's top democrat. Robert Mellow's spokesperson is denying the senator did anything wrong.

According to this article, taxpayers have been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for Mellow's district office --in a building that was partly owned by his wife and later himself.

Who really owned the building that housed the leading democrat's district office in Peckville? The Philadelphia inquirer article claims Senator Robert Mellow's wife was part owner for seven years. Her share transferred to him in a divorce. It's a possible conflict with state ethics law.

WILK News Radio host Sue Henry spoke about it on her morning show. “It seems Senator Mellow is his own judge, jury and executioner in that story. He sees there's nothing wrong with it."

State ethics law says neither public officials nor their family can benefit from the use of the office. Violating the ethics act carries hefty fines and prison time. But senators could be exempt from that law. According to the report, senator mellow claims he introduced a senate resolution which supercedes state law --in effect allowing the rental payments for $2400 a month.

So did Senator Mellow make any money from the rental of his district office? His aide claims Mellow didn't benefit when his wife owned it, but may (updated below*) have received some payments in the short time the senator's name was on the title. The aide also tells us, the senator was not involved in his wife's business. And that once he became the owner, the senator disclosed it.

Henry says “I would suggest if senator mellow wants to run for governor in Pennsylvania that he openly state to ethics commission. Please investigate this. Please make sure I didn't do anything wrong.”

Mellow has since sold the building to a realty company for $350,000. The fair market value of that building 8 years ago was around $80,000.

*After this story aired, Eyewitness News received a message from Mellow’s aide stating the senator did not make any money from the rental.

Chirico is blogging about his experiences reporting on this story. Join him at