Sep 17, 2016 3 min read

Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission levied a $75,000 fine on a former Pennsylvania Game Commission official for conflict-of-interest violations, though it called the penalty “not particularly satisfying.”

William A. Capouillez, who negotiated gas leases with drill companies on behalf of landowners while overseeing commission leases with those same companies, agreed to pay the fine in exchange for a deal that the Ethics Commission would not pursue further action against him. But he made millions off of those deals in addition to his salary of $75,834 as director of the Bureau of Wildlife Habitat Management.

The investigation into Capouillez’s double dealings began in 2013.

His duties with the commission put him in charge of oil and natural gas development on the 1.4 million acres of State Game Lands.

Interstingly enough, Capouillez’s foray into the buisiness of helping others negotiate leases began in Washington County when he was asked to speak at a Washington County Farm Bureau meeting in 2001.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, after that meeting, he was approached by some farmers who asked if he knew anyone who could help them negotiate gas leases on their land in the wake of the Marcellus Shale boom. Capouillez volunteered his own services.

Critics felt his position within the commission gave him inside information in working with multiple companies and the state.

Pennsylvania’s ethics laws prohibit state employees from using confidential information or the authority of their employment for private benefit.

For several years, the commission said Capouillez, who resigned his post last year, had gone through the proper channels to properly declare his outside earnings, which amounted to millions of dollars.

The ethics commission disagreed but couldn’t fine him more because most of the violations it found had occurred prior to the statute of limitations running out.

Former Gov. Tom Corbett reportedly had to pressure the commission to block the commission, which is an independent agency, from appointing him executive director in 2014.

Instead, Washington County native and Trinity High School graduate Matt Hough was named executive director.

• I might have chosen my words poorly in last week’s column when describing a pair of bills that will be voted on soon.

In last week’s column I implied that the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission would have little to no oversight if HB 1166 and HB 1168 are passed by the state.

Obviously, that is not the case, There will continue to be oversight from the state on whether license increases are given the OK.

• As of Friday, there were just more than 9,100 antlerless deer licenses remaining for purchase in Wildlife Management Unit 2A, which includes all of Greene, most of Washington and portions of Fayette and Westmoreland counties.

There are still more than 31,000 licenses remaining for sale in WMU 2B, which includes the northeastern corner of Washington County and the western border of Westmoreland County.

All other antlerless licenses are sold out across the state.

Outdoors Editor Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.