Procuring Trouble

When I heard about the ACORN sting, when two people posing as
pimp and prostitute asked for help in getting a loan to open a brothel,
I thought: what would happen if a local government official and a prostitute
visited a local government attorney to ask for help in giving the prostitute a
contract, so that the local government, rather than the
official, could pay for her services?<br>
<br>
One big difference is that it is not legal to open a brothel, but it
might be legal to use your office to get a local government to give a
contract to a prostitute.<br>
<br>

Imagine the video on You Tube:  A procurement manager (procurer?!)
walks into a city
attorney's office with a woman dressed like a prostitute. The procurer
asks, "Is it legal for me to give this woman a contract
doing public relations work for the city?"<br>
<br>
The attorney says, "There's nothing in the city's laws that makes it
illegal for an official to give a contract to a prostitute."<br>
<br>
The attorney might leave it at that, but then again, he might see his
role as
providing
the full legal picture to the official. "Don't forget that there's a
$10,000 limit on no-bid contracts, so if you want to give her more than
that, you'll have to break it up into multiple contracts."<br>
<br>
"And be sure that, if you have
relations with her, they are very
occasional or not for pay, or you could be seen as 'doing business'
with her. Then
there would be a conflict of interest, and you would have to disclose
the relationship."<br>
<br>
"And don't let her move in with you, because she could be considered a
'domestic partner,' as
defined by Section 5-555.5, and then there would be a conflict of
interest,
and you would have to disclose the relationship."<br>
<br>
"And if you have some sort of deal with her, so that you get services
free in return for what she's paid by the city ... and don't let me
know
if you do, because I don't want to know ... well, if that sort of deal
came out, the least of your problems would be a violation of the gift
provision!"<br>
<br>
Of course, there is another possible You Tube video, where the city
attorney thinks that his client is not the procurer sitting
before him, but instead
either the city (which is to say, the public interest) or the position
of procurement manager, which happens to be filled at the moment by
this bum. Such an attorney
might say instead:<br>
<br>
"The legality of giving this woman a contract is irrelevant. Ethics
laws cannot
account for every misuse of office. Ethics provisions are minimum
rules, not laws
that you look for loopholes in. If you think something is wrong, if you
know
it'll look bad, then don't do it. That's all that I can tell you. If
you go ahead and give a contract to her, I can't report you, since
you
have the benefit of lawyer-client confidentiality -- although I could
very well argue otherwise. But I can promise that I won't defend your
conduct and I can also promise you that I will recommend strict
oversight
regarding procurement practices."<br>
<br>
ACORN employees aren't the only people who give out the wrong sort of advice regarding prostitution, or its metaphorical equivalents.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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