Settlement  Disposition Agreement in the Matter of Christine Emerson

Date:	11/17/2022
Organization:	State Ethics Commission
Docket Number:	22-0008
Referenced Sources:	G.L. c. 268A, the Conflict of Interest Law, as Amended by c. 194, Acts of 2011

Disposition Agreement

The State Ethics Commission (“Commission”) and Christine Emerson (“Emerson”) enter into this Disposition Agreement pursuant to Section 3 of the Commission’s Enforcement Procedures. This Agreement constitutes a consented-to final order enforceable in the Superior Court, pursuant to G.L. c. 268B, § 4(j). 

On January 21, 2022, the Commission initiated a preliminary inquiry, pursuant to G.L. c. 268B, § 4(a), into possible violations of the conflict of interest law, G.L. c. 268A, by Emerson. On July 26, 2022, the Commission concluded its inquiry and found reasonable cause to believe that Emerson violated G.L. c. 268A, §§ 19, 23(b)(2), and 23(b)(3).

The Commission and Emerson now agree to the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

Findings of Fact

1. Emerson was at all relevant times the elected Town Clerk for the Town of Cheshire (“Town Clerk”).

Hiring of her daughter

2. As Town Clerk, Emerson was responsible for conducting the annual Town Census.
3. For nine years between 2008 and 2020, Emerson, as Town Clerk, hired her daughter to compile mailings for the annual Town Census.
4. At no point during that timeframe, did Emerson post a position or otherwise give public notice of the opportunity to compile mailings for the annual Town Census. Instead, Emerson asked her daughter to help and paid her to do so.
5. Each year, Emerson, as Town Clerk, created, signed, and submitted her daughter’s pay vouchers to the Town Treasurer for payment.
6. Each year, Emerson determined her daughter’s rate of pay.
7. Emerson determined that her daughter would be paid per envelope.
8. In 2008, Emerson paid her daughter 42 cents per envelope for 1650 envelopes, for a total of $693. In most of the following years, Emerson increased this compensation amount by around 2%. In 2020, Emerson paid her daughter a total of $911.63.
9. The Town paid Emerson’s daughter a total of $7,897 for her census mailings compilation work between 2008 and 2020.

Hiring of her granddaughter

10. As Town Clerk, Emerson was responsible for the general conduct of elections.
11. For seven elections between 2014 and 2020, Emerson hired her granddaughter to help set up the polling location on the day of the election.
12. In 2020, Emerson hired her granddaughter for an additional seventy total hours to help prepare paperwork for multiple elections and to help with early voting and extra precautions related to COVID-19.
13. Emerson did not post a position or otherwise give public notice of the opportunity to assist with the polling location set up or election paperwork. Instead, she asked her granddaughter to help and paid her to do so.
14. Emerson created, signed, and submitted her granddaughter’s pay vouchers to the Town Treasurer for payment after each election.
15. Emerson set her granddaughter’s rate of pay at $25 per polls set up for each election between 2014 and 2020, and set her hourly rate for election-related work in 2020 at $12.75 per hour, the state hourly minimum wage at the time.
16. In 2021, Emerson hired her granddaughter to compile mailings for the annual Town Census without posting or giving public notice of the opportunity to do this paid work.
17. Emerson, as Town Clerk, created, signed, and submitted her granddaughter’s census work pay voucher to the Town Treasurer for payment.
18. Emerson, as Town Clerk, determined that her granddaughter would be paid per envelope, for a total of $911.63, for the census compilation work in 2021.
19. The Town paid Emerson’s granddaughter a total of $2,038.13 for her election and census compilation work between 2014 and 2020.

Hiring a voter registrar in 2022

20. In 2022, after she was warned not to hire family members, Emerson hired a voter registrar to assist with compiling the annual Town Census.
21. Emerson determined that the voter registrar completed approximately six and one half hours of work stuffing envelopes for the Town Census, while Emerson herself performed the preliminary mailing compilation work in approximately sixteen and one half hours, for a combined total of approximately 23 hours of work.
22. Emerson, as Town Clerk, created, signed, and submitted the voter registrar’s pay voucher to the Town Treasurer for payment.
23. Emerson set the voter registrar’s rate of pay at $14.25, the state hourly minimum wage at the time. As a result, the registrar was paid a total of $92.63 for her census work.
24. Had Emerson paid her daughter and her granddaughter for their census work at a rate of $14.25 per hour for approximately 23 hours’ worth of work, they would have earned a total of approximately $330 each year for their census work. Instead, because Emerson, as Town Clerk, decided that they would be paid per envelope rather than by the hour, her daughter was paid between $693 and $911.63 each year she did census work, which was effectively the equivalent of between $30 and $39 per hour, and her granddaughter was paid the effective equivalent of over $39 per hour for her 2021 census work.

Conclusions of Law

Section 19

25. General Laws chapter 268A prohibits a municipal employee from participating as such an employee in a particular matter in which, to their knowledge, they or an immediate family member has a financial interest.
26. As Town Clerk, Emerson was, at all relevant times, a municipal employee as defined in G.L. c. 268A, § 1(g).
27. Emerson’s daughter is a member of her immediate family, as defined by G.L. c. 268A, § 1(e).
28. Each decision to hire her daughter to perform compensated census compilation work to the Town, to determine her daughter’s rate of pay, and to create, sign, and submit her daughter’s pay vouchers for payment by the Town, was a particular matter in which Emerson’s daughter had a financial interest.  
29. When Emerson participated as Town Clerk in the particular matters of her daughter’s hiring and compensation as described above, she knew her daughter had a financial interest in those matters.
30. Therefore, by, as Town Clerk, hiring her daughter to provide compensated census compilation work to the Town of Cheshire on nine occasions, determining her daughter’s rate of pay, and creating, signing, and submitting her daughter’s pay vouchers, Emerson repeatedly violated § 19.

Section 23(b)(3)

31. Section 23(b)(3) of G.L. c. 268A prohibits a municipal employee from, knowingly, or with reason to know, acting in a manner which would cause a reasonable person, having knowledge of the relevant circumstances, to conclude that any person can improperly influence or unduly enjoy his favor in the performance of his official duties, or that he is likely to act or fail to act as a result of kinship, rank, position or undue influence of any party or person.
32. By repeatedly hiring her granddaughter to perform compensated election-related work for the Town, as well as the 2021 annual Town Census compilation work, determining her granddaughter’s rate of pay, and creating, signing, and submitting her granddaughter’s pay vouchers for payment by the Town, Emerson knowingly or with reason to know acted in a manner which would cause a reasonable person, having knowledge of the relevant circumstances, to conclude that Emerson’s granddaughter could unduly enjoy Emerson’s favor in the performance of her official duties as Town Clerk.
33. By so acting, Emerson repeatedly violated § 23(b)(3).  

Section 23(b)(2)

34. Section 23(b)(2)(ii) of G.L. c. 268A prohibits a public employee from knowingly or with reason to know using, or attempting to use, their official position to secure for themselves or others unwarranted privileges or exemptions of substantial value not otherwise properly available to similarly situated individuals.
35. The opportunity to be paid per envelope, at a minimum rate of 42 cents per envelope, for census mailings compilation work was a privilege for Emerson’s daughter and granddaughter.
36. The privilege was unwarranted because it resulted in Emerson’s daughter and granddaughter being paid significantly more for their work than they would have earned if they had been paid the hourly minimum wage, the amount paid for the same work to a non-family member.
37. Emerson used her official position as Town Clerk to secure this unwarranted privilege for her daughter and granddaughter by as Town Clerk determining their rate of pay each year.
38. The unwarranted privilege was of substantial value because it resulted in Emerson’s daughter and granddaughter being paid well over $50[1] more than they would have received had they been paid the same hourly rate the voter registrar was paid.
39. The unwarranted privilege was not properly available to any Town employee, and was not, in fact, available to the voter registrar who was paid minimum wage for performing the same work in 2022.
40. Therefore, by, as Town Clerk, setting the pay rate for her daughter and granddaughter at a minimum of 42 cents per envelope, Emerson, knowingly or with reason to know, used her official position to secure for her daughter and granddaughter an unwarranted privilege of substantial value not properly available to similarly situated individuals. In doing so, Emerson violated G.L. § 23(b)(2)(ii).

Disposition

In view of the foregoing violations of G.L. c. 268A by Emerson, the Commission has determined that the public interest would be served by the disposition of this matter without further enforcement proceedings, on the following terms and conditions agreed to by Emerson:

(1)        that Emerson pay to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with such payment to be delivered to the Commission, the sum of $5,000 as a civil penalty for violating G.L. c. 268A, §§ 19, 23(b)(2), and 23(b)(3); and

(2)        that Emerson waive all rights to contest, in this or any other administrative or judicial proceeding to which the Commission is or may be a party, the findings of fact, conclusions of law and terms and conditions contained in this Agreement.

By signing below, Emerson acknowledges that she has personally read this Disposition Agreement, that it is a public document, and that she agrees to its terms and conditions.

[1] Substantial value is $50 or more. 930 CMR 5.05.