WestConn professor fined for selling art supplies to school

DANBURY -- A Western Connecticut State University professor paid the state $665 for an ethics violation after selling some art equipment to the university without a bid process.

Jurg Lanzrein of High Falls, N.Y., a part-time adjunct professor in the WestConn art department, paid a $500 civil penalty and $165, the amount of financial gain he received, for violating the Code of Ethics.

WestConn spokesman Paul Steinmetz said there was no disciplinary action again Lanzrein and he is eligible to teach again at the university.

"We discovered in looking at contracts that he appeared to have violated the state ethics rules, and the university referred it to the state ethics office as we are obligated to do,'' Steinmetz said.

The materials Lanzrein sold were not worth more than $500.

If a person is not a state employee, there is a $10,000 limit for selling to the university without open bidding. A part-time professor is a state employee and has a $100 limit for selling without a bid process.

The stipulation and consent order was finalized Thursday with the Office of State Ethics.

"The Code of Ethics requires all but the smallest contracts to be awarded through an open and public process to prevent the appearance or the actuality that public employees have an `inside track' when it comes to obtaining contracts with the state," Carol Carson, executive director of the Office of State Ethics, said in a news release Friday.

The office said in November 2006 and again in November 2007, Lanzrein entered into contracts for WestConn to purchase art supplies from his business, Lanzrein Studio.

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