Dating, Marrying, and Gifts

Government ethics is dangerous to dating and weddings. That's the
message of <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/palm-beach-county-ethics-rules-would-…; target="”_blank”">an
article in Sunday's Palm Beach <i>Post</i></a>.<br>
<br>
Because the proposed amendment to the <a href="http://www.palmbeachcountyethics.com/pdf/Code_of_Ethics_Ordinance.pdf&q…; target="”_blank”">Palm
Beach County ethics code</a>'s gift provision, just like the current
provision (§2-444), does not make an exception for people who are
dating, a sanitation worker dating an employee of a county vendor could
not accept more than $100 a year from the vendor employee.
Therefore, they would have to go dutch until they got married.<br>
<br>

And if they did get married, every county employee invited to the
wedding would have to pay the couple the per-person cost of the wedding
less the wedding gift less $100.<br>
<br>
There are two problems here. One is that all employees of those doing
business with the county are included. This is excessive. Generally, a
gift provision applies only to principals and officers of a company,
not all of its employees. Yes, a company could use its employees as
conduits for its gifts, but this can be taken care of by prohibiting
gifts made indirectly.<br>
<br>
The second problem is that there is no general waiver provision in the
Palm Beach County ethics code, which would allow, say, a county
employee dating the president of a county vendor to request from the
ethics commission that personal gifts from his girlfriend be excepted
from the prohibition. If the employee was involved in procurement, he
would have to withdraw from involvement in any matter involving the
contractor anyway, so gifts would not be seen as buying his support. If
the employee was not involved in procurement, the contractor would have
no politically corrupt reason to give gifts to him. So, in either case,
a waiver would be reasonable, so long as the procurement employee agreed
to fully withdraw.<br>
<br>
What if these two lovebirds decided to get married, and they wanted to
invite some county employees to their wedding? The contractor could
obtain a waiver for the event. But it would be reasonable for the
ethics commission to refuse a waiver for a procurement officer or,
better, require as a condition for the waiver that the procurement officer, as a friend close enough
to be invited to the wedding, withdraw from matters involving the
contractor.<br>
<br>
What these concerns point to is the importance of having not only a
waiver provision, but also an ethics officer who can quickly provide
straightforward advice and waivers. The EC could deal with more complex
advice and waivers. The ethics officer could be a staff member, a
consultant, or a specially trained EC member. The position should not be held by a
government attorney, because most city and county attorneys are
politically involved and represent the very people they would be asked
to enforce the ethics code against.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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