Suburbanite: Yoon Files Ethics Complaint Over Pre-Election Fundraiser

The Fort Lee Board of Education’s newest member, Helen Yoon, has filed an ethics complaint with the state School Ethics Commission stemming from a campaign kickoff and fund-raising event in March for then incumbent board members Peter Suh, Joseph Surace and Michelle Stux-Ramirez, the Fort Lee Suburbanite reported Thursday.

After a March 28 BOE meeting, during which Yoon first raised the issue publicly, she told Patch she was concerned about a March 21 event at on Lemoine Ave. organized by Suh and attend by Fort Lee Superintendent Raymond Bandlow, Assistant Superintendent Steven Engravalle, Business Administrator Cheryl Balletto and then board president Carmelo Luppino, among others.

The event, Yoon pointed out, was covered by Korean media outlets MKTV and KNN, which are broadcast on cable TV.

“I think there are certain roles and responsibilities of the board members, and there are certain roles and responsibilities of the superintendent,” Yoon said at the time. “And when a superintendent is participating actively in the election of incumbent board members, it raises a red flag.”

The Suburbanite article points out that Yoon waited until April 27—election day—to file her complaint, mere hours before election results were announced.

"I think that it needs to be addressed," Yoon told the paper. "I think it's my duty to point it out. And I chose to do it at the time I did it because I didn't want it to have negative repercussions on campaigning for anybody."

Bandlow strongly denied that his presence at the event was tantamount to campaigning on the incumbents’ behalf, telling Patch in late March that he was merely an invited guest.

“Notice I didn’t say who to vote for,” Bandlow said at the time, referring to his interview in a Korean news report. “I wouldn’t do that. So that’s perfectly okay. I can encourage people to vote.”

Suh and Surace were re-elected, while Stux-Ramirez was not. Yoon finished second in the voting, winning a seat on the board for the first time.