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Ethical questions surround couple's EPA link
By Karen Dillon/The Kansas City Star, Mo. (MCT)
When the Environmental Protection Agency came after the leaky Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, officials in St. Louis went looking for an attorney.
And they hired one -- all the way across the state in Kansas City.
St. Louis officials explained that Terry Satterlee is one of the best environmental attorneys around.
She also is the wife of Bill Rice, who leads the EPA's Region 7, headquartered in Kansas City, Kan., overseeing St. Louis.
One party to the lawsuit questions whether it is proper for the head of an agency that is suing a sewer district to be married to the attorney who is defending the sewer district. Millions of dollars in penalties and legal fees are on the line in the case.
"She sleeps every night with the head of Region 7," said Kathleen Logan Smith, executive director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, which has joined the EPA in the suit against the sewer district.
"How do you keep from being influenced?" she said of Rice.
Indeed, the marriage represents the thorniest of conflict-of-interest issues, say ethical experts. It is a puzzle with no easy answers, they say.
EPA officials say the conflict is not a problem because federal statute and regulations address such issues and those are followed in Rice's case.
Rice is acting EPA regional administrator, and over the years his position has alternated between acting and deputy administrator, second in command over a four-state region. Rice fills the top administrator position when it becomes vacant because of changes in presidential administrations or for other reasons.
Rice steps aside every time his wife represents a corporation or agency that is in a legal tangle with the EPA, said David Cozad, Region 7 general counsel.
"It's a pretty black-and-white issue for us," Cozad said.
Rice said he takes his ethical obligations as a federal employee very seriously.
"To avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, I have no involvement whatsoever in any matters from which I have recused myself," he said.
Satterlee did not return phone calls.
Lance LeComb, spokesman for the sewer district, said the district hired Satterlee because of her legal prowess, not because of her husband.
Satterlee has built her legal career defending Missouri corporations in major pollution cases.
In one notable case, she defended Harmon Electronics of Blue Springs for a decade. At first the EPA levied a $2.3 million penalty against Harmon for pollution, then reduced it to $586,000. Years later, a court threw the penalty out. At the time, the head of the statewide environmental group decried the decision.
Rice, who was deputy administrator during that period, recused himself and "had no involvement whatsoever in the handling of the matter," an EPA spokesman said.
Satterlee originally was an attorney for the EPA for five years but left to join the law firm of Lathrop & Gage. While there, she was head of the environmental department, with more than a dozen attorneys reporting to her. After 20 years, she joined the law firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, bringing with her the sewer district case.
Since 2003, the sewer district has paid $1.4 million to Shook, Hardy & Bacon and Lathrop & Gage for their legal defense in the sewer case and other environmental matters that involved Satterlee, LeComb said.
Federal regulators sued the district because it had failed to fix its sewers for decades.
Logan Smith didn't discover until recently that Rice and Satterlee were married.
Political scientists say conflicts of interest among spouses can be difficult.
"It is part of our sensitivity to women's employment opportunities and careers in general," said Kirk Hanson, executive director of the Santa Clara University Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
On the other hand, while just stepping aside in a case is a solution, it's not always enough, Hanson said. The situation can make EPA employees uncomfortable trying to decide how to handle situations that involve Satterlee, he said.
Donald Menzel, president of Ethics Management International, a consulting company, said individuals in situations of such public importance must make every effort to avoid even the appearance of a conflict.
"If I was the administrator, I would suggest strongly to my attorney wife that she pass on this," Menzel said. "Government officials who walk the talk on public integrity understand that appearances of wrongdoing are just as bad as the reality," Menzel said.
But Cozad said Rice was doing exactly as federal law required by recusing himself from cases that involved his wife. Nothing more is required, he said.
Rice also said that many of the matters from which he has recused himself have never risen to his level in the organization.
"On those handful of matters which would rise to the attention of senior management, I have no involvement whatsoever," he said. "And responsibilities I would have in such matters are assigned to another senior manager."
He said he typically recuses himself from 10 to 15 matters at any one time.
That doesn't necessarily comfort Logan Smith.
Just because Rice recuses himself doesn't mean the conflict ends, she said. Rules and regulations cannot control the influence that the appearance of a conflict can have on how employees think and how they react to the situation, she said.
Besides, she said, it is not as though St. Louis didn't have options.
"We have world-class law firms here," Logan Smith said.
To reach Karen Dillon, call 816-234-4430 or send e-mail to kdillon@kcstar.com.
To see more of The Kansas City Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansascity.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Subscribe To Lake AlertsAnd they hired one -- all the way across the state in Kansas City.
St. Louis officials explained that Terry Satterlee is one of the best environmental attorneys around.
She also is the wife of Bill Rice, who leads the EPA's Region 7, headquartered in Kansas City, Kan., overseeing St. Louis.
One party to the lawsuit questions whether it is proper for the head of an agency that is suing a sewer district to be married to the attorney who is defending the sewer district. Millions of dollars in penalties and legal fees are on the line in the case.
"She sleeps every night with the head of Region 7," said Kathleen Logan Smith, executive director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, which has joined the EPA in the suit against the sewer district.
"How do you keep from being influenced?" she said of Rice.
Indeed, the marriage represents the thorniest of conflict-of-interest issues, say ethical experts. It is a puzzle with no easy answers, they say.
EPA officials say the conflict is not a problem because federal statute and regulations address such issues and those are followed in Rice's case.
Rice is acting EPA regional administrator, and over the years his position has alternated between acting and deputy administrator, second in command over a four-state region. Rice fills the top administrator position when it becomes vacant because of changes in presidential administrations or for other reasons.
Rice steps aside every time his wife represents a corporation or agency that is in a legal tangle with the EPA, said David Cozad, Region 7 general counsel.
"It's a pretty black-and-white issue for us," Cozad said.
Rice said he takes his ethical obligations as a federal employee very seriously.
"To avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, I have no involvement whatsoever in any matters from which I have recused myself," he said.
Satterlee did not return phone calls.
Lance LeComb, spokesman for the sewer district, said the district hired Satterlee because of her legal prowess, not because of her husband.
Satterlee has built her legal career defending Missouri corporations in major pollution cases.
In one notable case, she defended Harmon Electronics of Blue Springs for a decade. At first the EPA levied a $2.3 million penalty against Harmon for pollution, then reduced it to $586,000. Years later, a court threw the penalty out. At the time, the head of the statewide environmental group decried the decision.
Rice, who was deputy administrator during that period, recused himself and "had no involvement whatsoever in the handling of the matter," an EPA spokesman said.
Satterlee originally was an attorney for the EPA for five years but left to join the law firm of Lathrop & Gage. While there, she was head of the environmental department, with more than a dozen attorneys reporting to her. After 20 years, she joined the law firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, bringing with her the sewer district case.
Since 2003, the sewer district has paid $1.4 million to Shook, Hardy & Bacon and Lathrop & Gage for their legal defense in the sewer case and other environmental matters that involved Satterlee, LeComb said.
Federal regulators sued the district because it had failed to fix its sewers for decades.
Logan Smith didn't discover until recently that Rice and Satterlee were married.
Political scientists say conflicts of interest among spouses can be difficult.
"It is part of our sensitivity to women's employment opportunities and careers in general," said Kirk Hanson, executive director of the Santa Clara University Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
On the other hand, while just stepping aside in a case is a solution, it's not always enough, Hanson said. The situation can make EPA employees uncomfortable trying to decide how to handle situations that involve Satterlee, he said.
Donald Menzel, president of Ethics Management International, a consulting company, said individuals in situations of such public importance must make every effort to avoid even the appearance of a conflict.
"If I was the administrator, I would suggest strongly to my attorney wife that she pass on this," Menzel said. "Government officials who walk the talk on public integrity understand that appearances of wrongdoing are just as bad as the reality," Menzel said.
But Cozad said Rice was doing exactly as federal law required by recusing himself from cases that involved his wife. Nothing more is required, he said.
Rice also said that many of the matters from which he has recused himself have never risen to his level in the organization.
"On those handful of matters which would rise to the attention of senior management, I have no involvement whatsoever," he said. "And responsibilities I would have in such matters are assigned to another senior manager."
He said he typically recuses himself from 10 to 15 matters at any one time.
That doesn't necessarily comfort Logan Smith.
Just because Rice recuses himself doesn't mean the conflict ends, she said. Rules and regulations cannot control the influence that the appearance of a conflict can have on how employees think and how they react to the situation, she said.
Besides, she said, it is not as though St. Louis didn't have options.
"We have world-class law firms here," Logan Smith said.
To reach Karen Dillon, call 816-234-4430 or send e-mail to kdillon@kcstar.com.
To see more of The Kansas City Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansascity.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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