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(Board of) Ethics revival coming soon to 165 Church, with Matthew Watson's newly approved appointment.
A New Havener with a background in military intelligence was approved for a new mission — to help bring New Haven’s ethics board back to life.
At Monday’s latest regular meeting of the full Board of Alders, local legislators approved Mayor Justin Elicker’s appointment of Matthew Watson to serve on the city’s Board of Ethics. Watson — a Beaver Hills resident, military veteran, and legal intern at the federal public defender’s office — now has a term on the board that extends through Jan. 1, 2027.
The board hasn’t met in over a year. According to city spokesperson Lenny Speiller, that’s because the board hasn’t had any requests for advisory opinions or investigations. As of this January, the board also hasn’t had enough members to meet quorum. That’s now changed, thanks to the alders’ confirmation of Watson’s appointment.
The ethics board is charged with providing broad-reaching oversight over potential conflicts of interest regarding city employees, appointees, and elected officials. In the past, it’s weighed in on topics ranging from whether a police officer should be allowed to serve on a local nonprofit’s board of directors, whether the sister of a city employee should be allowed to buy a city-built two-family house, and whether a city staffer whose job it is to process marriage certificates should also be allowed to perform weddings for pay.
Click here to read about the ethics board’s purview, as laid out in the city’s charter. Click here to file a request for an advisory opinion or investigation. According to the charter, the Board of Ethics dates back to 1961, and board members serve two-year terms.
With Monday’s vote, Watson is now the second member on the three-person board. The board’s only other active member is Robert Post, a Yale Law School professor whose term runs through Jan. 1, 2026.
City spokesperson Lenny Speiller confirmed for the Independent that the Board of Ethics hasn’t met since April 2024. Speiller said that the reason why the Board of Ethics hasn’t met in over a year is because there haven’t been any agenda items for it to discuss.
Watson’s appointment means that the Board of Ethics will also now have quorum — that is, a sufficient number of members to hold meetings in case there are items for it to discuss. The board has had only one member since former Board of Ethics member Qadry Harris’s term expired Jan. 1 of this year. (The only other active ethics board member, Robert Post, confirmed for the Independent Friday that he has not yet participated in a board meeting since his appointment was approved last October.)
Speiller said that the Board of Ethics plans to meet in June “to introduce Mr. Watson, to elect new officers, and to approve a meeting schedule for the rest of 2025.”
During a May 8 Aldermanic Affairs Committee meeting to answer questions about his bid to serve on the ethics board, Watson said that he had a top secret clearance when he worked in military intelligence. “Self-regulation is incredibly important to the integrity of an institution,” he said, whether that be for the military or for City Hall.
In his Jan. 30 application to serve on the ethics board, he wrote, “As someone working in intelligence, I had to hold myself and others to high ethical standards. Serving on the Board would allow me to leverage my legal education, investigative skills, and dedication to transparency to uphold the highest standards for public officials and municipal employees. This role aligns perfectly with my passion for justice and commitment to serving New Haven’s community.”
Have you attended any Board of Ethics meetings? Fair Haven Heights Alder Rosa Ferraro-Santana asked during the May 8 meeting.
Watson said he’s watched recordings of past meetings. But, “I know the board has had issues meeting. I don’t think they’ve met at all since I’ve been in New Haven.”
In a Friday phone interview with the Independent, Watson noted that the Board of Ethics is a “reactive board” that responds to ethical complaints. “It is only able to do substantive work when other people take advantage of the service.”
One of his top priorities as a newly confirmed commissioner, he said, is help figure out “how to make the board more proactive, more forward-facing.” He said he’s starting that work by reviewing the underlying ordinance, as well as minutes from meetings dating back to 2020. He’d like to ensure that the board provides an annual report to the Board of Alders on its activities, to give legislators a better understanding of what it has done — and what it can do going forward.
Thomas Breen photo