Opinion  EC-COI-85-29

Date:	04/02/1985
Organization:	State Ethics Commission

Facts

You are a member of the General Court. In your the legislative capacity you participate in a program with ABC State College (College) in which students are assigned to work in your legislative office for part of the school year. Student candidates for the internship are screened and selected for recommendation to you by the College History and Political Science Department chairperson. Those student interns whom you select receive either course credit or work-study payments from the College.

In addition to the customary duties which a student would perform as a student intern in your office, you would like to assign an intern to a research project in January, 1986. Approximately one-third of the student's time would be spent in your representative district reviewing and comparing lists of registered voters with lists of voters who voted in the 1982 and 1984 primary elections. This information would be used to create a data base for polling purposes for the next election and a voter behavior questionnaire. Ordinarily your political committee would pay for having this work completed.

Question

Does G.L. c. 268A permit you to assign a student intern to perform these tasks?

Answer

No.

Discussion

As a member of the General Court, you are a state employee for the purposes of G.L. c. 268A. Section 23(12) (2) prohibits state employees from using or attempting to use their official position to secure an unwarranted privilege or exemption for themselves or others. Based upon the information you have provided, the Commission concludes that the use of a student intern to perform the proposed voting list assignments would be an unwarranted privilege for you and your political committee, and that you would be using your official position to secure that privilege in violation of §23 (12) (2).

In EC-COI-84-88, 1/ the Commission advised a legislator that §23 (12) (2) prohibited his making available to a private organization his office space, telephone and other facilities which were not available to other private organizations. Similarly, in EC-COI-82-112, the Commission ruled that this section prohibited a legislator from using a word processor located in his legislative office for purely personal or campaign-related purposes.2/ Whether any particular ·purpose is predominantly campaign-related, as opposed to an official legislative act, depends upon the facts in each case. EC-COI-83-102.

The Commission has recognized that legislators perform unique functions, and that their official position necessarily includes activities which are not customarily performed by other state employees. Compare EC-COI-83-102 (endorsement of a voter registration drive is within customary use of legislative office); EC-COI-83-87 (receipt of excessive travel reimbursement for private speaking engagements exceeds the customary use of office and benefits a private, as distinct from a public interest). The assignment of a student intern to perform tasks which would predominantly benefit your political committee and your re-election effort would exceed the customary use of your office and would therefore be an unwarranted privilege. See , also, House of Representatives, Rule 16A ¶9 (“No member, officer or employee shall employ anyone from public funds- who does not perform tasks which contribute substantially to the work of the House ... “) This is not to say that each task, no matter how small or ministerial, must be scrutinized to determine if it conveys an unwarranted privilege to your election effort. For example, under the Interpretive Rulings of the Select Committee on Ethics, United States Senate, Ruling No. 154 (June 22, 1978) an inadvertent and minimal overlap between the duties of a senator's staff with respect to the senator’s official duties and the senator's re-election campaign is permissible. However, the senator has the responsibility to ensure that such an overlap is of a de minimis nature and that staff duties do not conflict with campaign responsibilities. Id. Because a substantial portion of the student intern's time will be allocated to the voter list project in your district, the overlap cannot be said to be inadvertent or minimal.

1/These citations refer to previous advisory opinions issued by the Commission. Copies of these and all other advisory opinions may be obtained at the Commission's offices.

2/It is an equally unwarranted privilege for non-legislative employees to use state time, offices and supplies for political activities. See EC-COI-82-51.