| Date: | 05/15/1979 |
|---|---|
| Organization: | State Ethics Commission |
A state employee may not accept a position with a private organization if he "participated" in the preliminary review and approval or disapproval of the grant proposal to fund that position, even if the initial recommendation in which he participated was not binding.
You are a full-time employee in a particular bureau (Bureau) in a state agency. You are interested in working for a private organization (ORG) as coordinator of a program funded by your state agency. You ask whether it would be a conflict of interest under General Laws Chapter 268A for you to accept that job.
In rendering this opinion, the Commission has been guided by, and will continue to follow for the near future, the interpretations of the Attorney General issued prior to November 1, 1978, the effective date of the Commission's jurisdiction over Chapter 268A matters.
You are a "state employee" as defined in § 1(q). If you were to leave your current position with the agency, you would be a former state employee.
Section 5(a) prohibits a former state employee from acting as an agent for or receiving compensation directly or indirectly from anyone other than the Commonwealth or a state agency, in connection with any particular matter in which the Commonwealth or a state agency is a party or has a direct and substantial interest and in which she participated as a state employee.
In 1978, the Bureau received federal funds to fund discretionary grants. A proposal was submitted by ORG. Competitive grants from the entire state were submitted to a Bureau reading team in the central Boston office which assigned them to be read in the Regional Centers. You were one of the five members of the regional reading team. Your team voted not to fund the ORG proposal. In Boston, however, a second team reviewed all the proposals again and the ORG project was voted to be funded and has been awarded the grant. A grant proposal constitutes a "particular matter" in which the Bureau has a direct and substantial interest. See Conf. Op. Atty. Gen. No. 799.
The Ethics Commission has decided in a prior opinion that the preliminary review and the approval or disapproval of a grant proposal constitutes "participation" in that proposal as that term is defined in § 1(j). This is true even though the recommendation of the regional office is not binding on the agency's central office. See Opinion No. EC-COI-78-1. Therefore, the Commission finds that you may not accept this job without violating the provisions of Chapter 268A.
End Of Decision
