Two lawyers -- one representing the Indiana Association of County Commissioners -- say Greene County District 2 Commissioner Bill Sipes committed no ethics violations as alleged in a published report in Wednesday's edition of a Bloomfield weekly newspaper.

The report in the Bloomfield Free Press accuses Sipes of failing to file a conflict of interest declaration within 15 days of his appointment to the commissioner's seat on April 19.

Sipes is filling out the unexpired term of former commissioner Larry Hasler, who died March 22.

The newspaper report by Free Press Editor Michael Johnson went on to suggest that Sipes, by not filing the report to the Indiana State Board of Accounts and the Indiana Ethics Commission, had committed a Class D felony. The story also said that Sipes could be the subject of a criminal investigation by the county prosecutor's office, if the prosecutor chose to pursue the case.

Sipes, Greene County Commissioners Attorney Marilyn Hartman, and Brad Bingham, who serves as legal counsel for the Indiana Association of County Commissioners, deny any wrongdoing was done.

The Free Press alleges that Sipes should have filed a conflict of interest form with the State Board of Accounts and the State Ethics Commission because at the time of his appointment to the commissioner's seat, he was still legally employed with an Indianapolis consulting, engineering and technology firm -- WTH, Inc.

Sipes employment ended with WTH on May 31 when he formally retired.

At the time of his appointment, he was "on vacation" from the firm -- preparing to retire, according to Sipes.

Attorney Hartman was asked to research the law surrounding this issue by Sipes and fellow Commissioner Bart Beard, from Linton.

In her legal opinion that was forwarded to Beard, Sipes and Commissioner Kathy Crouch, Hartman wrote: "Contrary to the statement in the Free Press, Indiana law does not require any county official to file a 'disclosure statement' upon assuming office. IC 4-2-6 creates a State Ethics Commission and requires certain state as opposed to local officials and employees to file financial statements upon assumption of office. That statute, however applies only to individuals employed by the State of Indiana, and not county officials ... To constitute a violation of IC 35-44-1-3, a public official must 'knowingly or intentionally have a pecuniary interest in' or derive 'a profit from a contract or purchase connection with an action by the governmental entity served by the public servant.' The disclosure requirements set forth in IC 35-44-1-3 (d) are only triggered when all of those elements exist, and not, as Mr. Johnson stated, when Commissioner Sipes took office."

She continued, "Subsection (d) allows a public servant to take action even if there is a pecuniary interest or profit if the written disclosure requirements are met. The disclosure must, among other things describe the contract or purchase to be made by the governmental entity and describe the pecuniary interest that the public servant has in the contract or purchase. The disclosure must be filed with the State Board of Accounts (and the county clerk) only after final action on the contract has been taken."

Hartman said since Sipes has officially taken office, he did vote in favor of the purchase two additional licenses from WTH, Inc. so that the Auditor's office could properly plat property transfers.

The vote was taken June 3, 2008, after Sipes had retired. Commissioner Beard voted in favor of the purchase, while commissioner Crouch abstained.

"But even if Commissioner Sipes had been employed with WTH on June 3, 2008, and taken that vote, he would still not have been required to file a disclosure. The existence of an employment relationship alone does not create "a pecuniary interest" or "profit." The key to determining whether a disclosure is required prior to a vote is whether the public official would receive some pecuniary benefit from the transaction," Hartman wrote.

The attorney stressed that Commissioner Sipes' prior employment with WTH was in a public relations capacity. His job was to attend conferences, talk with public officials about problems they might be having with the company's products or services, and generally promote the reputation for the company. Sipes did not sell services nor negotiate contracts, although he sometimes appeared with salesmen from WTH when presentations were made. His compensation was not tied to any contracts with Greene County.

"Accordingly, even if Commissioner Sipes had been employed with WTH on June 3, 2008, he still would not have been required to file a disclosure, because his employment relationship did not create 'pecuniary interest' in the contract, nor would he have profited from the County's purchase of two software licenses," Hartman wrote. "The 'contracts' in question were additional licenses authorizing use of existing WTH software. That vote had no connection with the WTH contract referenced in Mr. Johnson's article, which was approved by the Board of Commissioners in 2007."

Hartman and attorney Bingham, who is employed at the Indianapolis law firm of Barnes & Thornburg, agree that Commissioner Sipes acted properly in voting to approve the two licenses, and there was no violation of IC 35-44-1-3.

Bingham said he had consulted with Hartman while she was putting together her legal opinion on the issue and he concurs with her conclusion that Sipes or any other county elected official would not be required to file a disclosure statement upon taking office.

"There really isn't a requirement per se at the local level," Bingham said. "Title 4 of the Indiana Code applies to state offices, departments and agencies and things of that nature, but it does not apply to local political subdivisions, which would include a county, cities and towns and things like that."

An employee who works in the Indiana Ethics Commission office in Indianapolis also said she was wrongly characterized in comments that appeared in the Bloomfield Free Press story.

When contacted by the Greene County Daily World on Thursday, Joann Flynn stated that she was asked by Johnson to look up in her computer data base whether Sipes had filed a disclosure form.

"He (Johnson) asked me to look it up. That is what I did. I wouldn't know whether there was a violation. I just keep the data base. I can't believe my name was even in the paper," Flynn commented. "I just keep a data base. That is all. I just checked on that for him (Johnson). Any other kind of information you would need to speak with the Inspector General."

Greene County Auditor David Bailey also told the Greene County Daily World that he does not have any conflict of interest disclosure statements for any county commissioners on file in his office.