Sanghvi Violates City Ethics Code Yet Again

As the readers of this blog will know, Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim and Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi were cited by the city’s Ethics Board for violating the city’s ethics code. Their respective campaign Facebook pages were linked to the city’s website. This is a violation of the federal Hatch Act and of the city’s ethics code.

You would think this would have sensitized them to the issue of mixing their campaign promotions with their roles as Council members.

You would be wrong.

A post from Sanghvi’s campaign Facebook page again appeared on the city website after this Ethics Board ruling. Instead of taking responsibility for this error, Sanghvi blamed a new employee in her office. She never explained or apologized for the previous postings.

Now Sanghvi has once more breached the wall that should exist between an officeholder’s role as an elected official and their campaigns for office. At the June 6 City Council meeting, Sanghvi live-streamed young people singing a song from their upcoming “The Sound of Music” production to her campaign page using her phone at the Council table.

While many will appropriately consider this a mild lapse, it speaks to the cavalier attitude that Commissioner Sanghvi has repeatedly demonstrated toward her work as Commissioner.

Some of us want our elected officials to be scrupulous in their duties while in office.

Commissioner Sanghvi never acknowledged her original violation of the city’s ethics code, so unsurprisingly, she continues to be oblivious to its importance.