The Ethics Commission typically does not become involved in insignificant cases, such as an employee's using a government fax machine to file a health insurance claim, he said.
A typical penalty is a fine - sometimes pegged to the pay the violator collected while not doing his public job.
On Dec. 11, 2007, another BRT work day, Mescolotto and a SEPTA buyer exchanged e-mails about reopening one contract to replace some bad parts, caused by incorrect drawings on SEPTA's end. The next day, Trans-lectric got an $18,211 deal.
Mescolotto listed Trans-lectric on his BRT disclosure forms some years, but stopped doing so several years ago. He said he only listed the company when he was paid - usually for money he had fronted the corporation.
"If I didn't get anything . . . there was nothing to report as far as I could see," he said. "That's the way I saw it, anyway."
In its report, the city inspector general raised one additional issue: Trans-lectric never obtained a business privilege license, as required.
"Nobody realized it was needed, was what it came down to," Mescolotto said. "It was not high on a list of things to do."
He said the company would soon get that license, as well as pay back taxes and interest. He said he was still gathering records from years when the taxes went unpaid: 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2007.
"We're getting her current on that," he said.
Look up property values, and read "Tax Travesty," a three-part series on chaos and cronyism inside the BRT, at
Contact staff writer Joseph Tanfani at 215-854-2684 or jtanfani@phillynews.com.
