A new Palm Beach County Ethics Commission, created by county commissioners last year in response to the corruption convictions of five local elected officials between 2006 and 2009, holds its first meeting Tuesday in West Palm Beach.

Among the first orders of business for the five-member commission will be choosing a chairman and vice-chairman.

The ethics panel, plus representatives from the State Attorney and Public Defender offices, will sit as the selection committee for a new inspector general position. The inspector general post, modeled after one in Miami-Dade County, is the centerpiece of reforms approved Dec. 1. Applications for the inspector general’s job and for a new executive director for the ethics commission are due Friday.

The ethics panelists were chosen by a variety of groups outside county government. Read about them after the jump…..

* Attorney Manuel Farach, appointed by the Hispanic Bar Association of Palm Beach County, the F. Malcolm Cunningham, Sr. Bar Association and the Palm Beach County Bar Association.

* Florida Atlantic University Ethics Professor Robin Fiore, appointed by the president of FAU.

* Certified Public Accountant Ronald Harbison, appointed by the Palm Beach County chapter of the Florida Institute of CPAs.

* Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Reinhart, appointed by the Palm Beach County Association of Chiefs of Police.

* Retired Circuit Judge and former Riviera Beach councilman Edward Rodgers, appointed by the Palm Beach County League of Cities.

Tags: Bruce Reinhart, Corruption County, Edward Rodgers, ethics, Manuel Farach, Robin Fiore, Ronald Harbison

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 11:30 am and is filed under George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.