From Scarsdale Forum President Tim Foley: Forum Enforces Safeguards Against Conflicts of Interest

Dear Neighbor,

We find ourselves in uncharted waters due to the COVID-19 pandemic on so many fronts, and the Scarsdale Forum is no exception. On the one hand, we are a not-for-profit volunteer organization that strives to promote community dialogue and engagement in so many areas of civic life in Scarsdale, especially through our committee reports. On the other, the charitable nature of our enterprise requires the Scarsdale Forum as an organization to refrain from being directly involved in electoral politics.

As an added – but positive -- complication, the nature of our mission of civic engagement means that throughout our history many members of the Scarsdale Forum and its predecessor organizations have gone on to run as candidates for the Village Board of Trustees or the Scarsdale Board of Education, and many have gone on to have successful volunteer terms in public service.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, village elections have been postponed from their customary mid-March date to sometime after June 1. School Board elections are in similar circumstances. This means that, unlike a normal year, the period of open election campaigns will overlap with critical budget discussions for both entities. Volunteers on the relevant Scarsdale Forum committees will want to provide their usual thoughtful analysis and commentary to the benefit of the public debate on these topics.

To ensure the findings of Scarsdale Forum reports are truly independent from the electoral contests they overlap with, the Scarsdale Forum adopted policies in recent years which should reassure the Scarsdale community about the organization’s independence and integrity.

In 2018, the Board of Directors adopted clear guidelines for candidates for village office who are active members of the Scarsdale Forum. Among other things, those who are declared candidates are required and expected to take leaves of absence from whatever committees they currently serve on for the duration of their candidacy. Should they be successfully elected, they are expected to resign from those committees. Should they not be successful, they can be fully reinstated after election day.

Over the past two election cycles, these policies have been followed faithfully. A candidate for School Board last year observed the required leave of absence. This year, there are two candidates for village office – by happenstance, one from each slate – and they have been informed that their prudent abstention from committee activities is both expected and appreciated.

These policies pre-dated the present public health emergency, but they provide us some safeguards to offer assurance against potential conflicts of interests, or the appearance of such a conflict. We hope that by being transparent about these safeguards, the public will appreciate the independent spirit of whatever Forum reports will follow this spring. As always, we welcome your participation as members of the Scarsdale Forum and your contributions to our community dialogue.

Sincerely,

Tim Foley
President 2019-2020
The Scarsdale Forum