ethics gifts government in the sunshine public records · government in the sunshine public records...
TRANSCRIPT
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Ethics
Gifts
Government in the Sunshine
Public Records
A briefing for the
VOLUSIA GROWTH
MANAGEMENT COMMISSION
August 23, 2017
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CODE OF ETHICS
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CODE OF ETHICS
Ethics ≠ not committing crimes
Three principles:
• No one can serve two masters
• A public office is a public trust (Art. II, Sec. 8, Florida Constitution)
• A situation that merely TEMPTS TO DISHONOR is unethical
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CODE OF ETHICS
Criminal violation: an act is required
Ethical violation: getting into a situation that
“tempts to dishonor”
Goal of criminal law:
Punish criminal & deter crime
Preserve public safety
Goal of ethics code:
Avoid “temptations to dishonor”
Preserve public trust
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CODE OF ETHICS
Applies to a “public officer” and each
public employee:
Public officer – any person elected or
appointed to hold office, including any
person on an advisory body [Sec. 112.313(1),
Fla. Stat.]
VGMC and Committees
VGMC employee(s)
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CODE OF ETHICS
PROHIBITED ACTS:
Do not solicit a gift for your vote (or
other official action)
Do not accept a gift or other
compensation for your vote
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CODE OF ETHICS
PROHIBITED ACTS (cont’d):
Do not misuse your public position …
• Perform your duties
• Obtain special benefit or privilege
• For yourself or others
• Corruptly
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CODE OF ETHICS
Example – Misuse of your position:
• School superintendent defeated in his re-election.
• Calls a special meeting on his last day.
• Nominates himself for job as elementary-school principal.
• Position becomes open the next day, because …
• The incumbent principal was the guy who ran and beat him. [CEO 85-10].
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CODE OF ETHICS
PROHIBITED ACTS (cont’d):
Do not do business with the VGMC
Do not sell or lease to the VGMC any …
• Goods
• Services
• Real estate
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CODE OF ETHICS
Example – Doing business with the
VGMC
• Commission member owns a catering
business
• The catering business may not provide
food or refreshments for Commission
meetings or functions [CEO 85-71].
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CODE OF ETHICS
PROHIBITED ACTS (cont’d):
Do not have a conflicting “employment”
or “contractual” relationship:
For a business or government agency
doing business with the VGMC…
• You may not hold a job with that business
or agency
• You may not have a “contract relationship”
with that business or agency
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CODE OF ETHICS
Example: Doing business with
someone doing business with VGMC:
• Company doing planning work for VGMC
• You hire the company to do planning work
for your development
• You would have a contractual relationship
with the planning business doing business
with VGMC
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CODE OF ETHICS
PROHIBITED ACTS (cont’d):
Exemptions from the not-doing-business rule and
not-holding-job rule:
• Contract entered into prior to taking office or appointment
• Business is rotated among qualified suppliers
• Awarded by sealed competitive bidding
• Emergency purchase
• Sole-source
• Less than $500 per year
• VGMC’s bank
• In a private capacity you purchase goods or services and get
the same deal as the rest of the public
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CODE OF ETHICS
PROHIBITED ACTS (cont’d):
Do not have a job or a contract
relationship …
• that creates a “frequently recurring
conflict,” or
• that “would impede the full and faithful
discharge of [your] duties”
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CODE OF ETHICS
PROHIBITED ACTS (cont’d):
Your relatives may not be
Employed by the VGMC
Promoted by VGMC (if already
employed)
Appointed to a VGMC advisory
committee
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CODE OF ETHICS
PROHIBITED ACTS:
One last word about prohibited acts …
They are NOT cured by abstaining from
voting
They are NOT cured by disclosure
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CODE OF ETHICS
VOTING CONFLICTS:
General rule – you must vote on all
commission issues
– “abstentions” are not
allowed
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CODE OF ETHICS
VOTING CONFLICTS:
Must disclose if, on any issue, the Commission’s
vote would benefit … or hurt …• You
• Your relative
• Your business partner
• Your employer
• Your client/customer
• The parent company, subsidiary company, or
sister company of …Your employer
Your client
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CODE OF ETHICS
VOTING CONFLICTS (cont’d):
Must not vote
Must file Form 8B (with the VGMC Operations
Manager) within 15 days after the vote
May participate in the discussion if the
conflict is first disclosed … but WHY WOULD
YOU?!
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CODE OF ETHICS
VOTING CONFLICTS:
MUST abstain in a conflict
MAY abstain in an “appearance” of a conflict
If you abstain, file Form 8B
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GIFTS
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GIFTS
Do not solicit a gift from a “lobbyist” or
a “vendor”
Do not accept a gift worth more than
$100 from a “lobbyist” or a “vendor”
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GIFTS
Who is a “vendor”?
Any person or entity doing business with
the VGMC.
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GIFTS
Who is a “lobbyist”?
“Lobbyist” means one who meets all the following tests:
• a natural person,
• who is being compensated,
• who is trying or has tried to influence a decision of a Commission member or of the VGMC or this Commission, and
• the attempt to influence a decision has occurred in the past 12 months.
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GIFTS
PROHIBITION ON GIFTS (cont’d):
What is a “gift”?
The term gift includes:
• money
• real estate
• use of real estate
• tangible personal property
• intangible personal property
• use of personal property
• food or beverages
• membership dues
• transportation
• plants & flowers
• admission tickets (sports,
concerts, cruises, theme
parks, etc.)
• forgiveness of debt
• a preferential rate or price on
a debt, loan, goods or
services
• any other thing having value
• any other service having value
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GIFTS
DISCLOSURE OF GIFTS BY YOU:
What must be disclosed?
Any gift which is accepted AND worth over
$100
Exceptions:
• Gifts from relatives
• Prohibited gifts (i.e., from lobbyists and vendors)
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GIFTS
GIFTS DISCLOSED … BY LOBBYISTS
AND VENDORS:
All gifts to you worth over $25
Disclosed quarterly ... by the lobbyist or
vendor, not you
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GIFTS
DISCLOSURE OF GIFTS (cont’d):
How disclosed by you?
Form 9:
• gifts worth over $100
• quarterly
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GIFTS
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GIFTS
Scenarios:
Two $75 tickets to an Orlando Magic game
from your brother
Value – $150
___ Accept?
___ Report?
Two tickets to an Orlando Magic game from
your college roommate who lives in Miami
Value – $150
___ Accept?
___ Report?
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GIFTS
Two tickets to the game from Mr. VGMC Planner
Value – $150
___ Accept?
___ Report?
Two tickets from Mr. VGMC Planner – you pay him $150
Value – $ -0- net
___ Accept?
___ Report?
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GIFTS
Two tickets from Planner – you pay him $50
Value – $100 net
___ Accept?
___ Report?
Two tickets from Planner – you pay him $150 ... but not until 9 months later, after there is a newspaper article
Value – ??!!___ Accept?
___ Report?
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GIFTS
You ask Planner for one ticket
Value – $75
___ Accept?
___ Report?
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CODE OF ETHICS/GIFTS
SLOW-NEWS-DAY TEST:
Would you want what you did reported on the front page of the newspaper?
If the answer is NO, then whatever you are thinking about doing you probably shouldn’t be doing!
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FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
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FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
WHAT IS DISCLOSED?
Form 1: certain assets and liabilities,
sources of income, and certain other
information
Form 2: all clients represented before the
Commission by your firm or you
Form 1F: financial disclosure statement …
from January 1 to your last day in office
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FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
WHEN AND WHERE TO FILE?
Form 1: July 1 (for the previous calendar
year)
Form 2: every calendar quarter, no later than
3 months after the quarter
Form 1F: no later than 60 days after leaving
the Commission
All three filed with the Volusia County
Supervisor of Elections
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FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
PENALTIES:
Fail to file by July 1st: delinquency notice
Fail to file, then, by September 1st: $25-per-day fine
Max fine: $1,500
Note: The Commission on Ethics must send Form 1 to Commission members no later than June 1st of each year. You must obtain Form 2 on your own. F.S. 112.3145(6)(b)
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FLORIDA COMMISSION ON ETHICS
Available for advice: ethics / gifts /
financial disclosure
Phone: 850-488-7864
Website: www.ethics.state.fl.us
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SUNSHINE LAW
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SUNSHINE LAW
All meetings … at which official acts are
to be taken are declared to be public
meetings open to the public at all times,
and no … action shall be considered
binding except as taken or made at such
meeting. The board or committee must
provide reasonable notice of all such
meetings.§286.011(1), Florida Statutes
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SUNSHINE LAW
THE PUBLIC’S RIGHT TO ATTEND VGMC
MEETINGS
GENERAL RULE: “Where two or more are
gathered ... there will be a meeting.”
… if “foreseeable action” by the Commission is
discussed.
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SUNSHINE LAW
“MEETINGS” CAN MEAN:
Hallway talks between Commission members
Phone calls between Commission members
E-mails and letters between Commission members
Notes to or from another Commission member
Discussions between Commission members’ assistants or secretaries
Messages via mutual friends
Messages via lobbyists
Messages via Commission staff
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SUNSHINE LAW
“MEETINGS” DO NOT INCLUDE:
Discussions with county commissioners
Discussions with city commissioners
Discussions with state legislators
Discussions on matters on which the VGMC will
never vote
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PUBLIC RECORDS LAW
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PUBLIC RECORDS LAW
Every person who has custody
of a public record shall permit
the record to be inspected and
copied by any person desiring to
do so, at any reasonable time….§ 119.07, Florida Statutes
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PUBLIC RECORDS LAW
GENERAL RULE:
If you have it, the public – including the
news media – can see it!!
Public records are open for inspection
• By any person
• At any reasonable time
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PUBLIC RECORDS LAW
“PUBLIC RECORDS” INCLUDE:
• E-mails (incoming and
outgoing)
• Letters (incoming and
outgoing)
• Memos
• Notes
• Telephone logs
• Calendars
• Computer data/documents
• Data processing software
• Tapes/CD’s/DVD’s/videos
• Drafts of documents
• Reports/studies/analyses
• Maps/plans/permits/permit
applications
• Pictures
• All copies of anything
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PUBLIC RECORDS LAW
What about …
Text messages?
Instant messages?
Facebook posts?
Twitter posts?
Are they about VGMC
business?
Then … YES, they are
public records
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PUBLIC RECORDS LAW
WHAT TO DO WHEN DEMANDED:
Call the VGMC Operations Manager!
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PUBLIC RECORDS LAW
DISPOSING OF PUBLIC RECORDS:
Originals? Keep them.
Copies? Pitch them (unless you have the
only copy).
Best practice: send all originals to the VGMC
Operations Manager.
End of your term: you must transfer all
records to the VGMC Operations Manager or
your successor. §119.021(4)(a), Fla. Stat.
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“You know it’s a bad day when …”
Ethics Complaint
… Ethics Commission – investigation, hearings,
fines
… nasty press coverage
Sunshine Law & Public Records Lawsuit
… lawsuit / attorneys’ fees
… indictment – 2nd degree misdemeanor
… civil infraction – $500 fine
… nasty press coverage
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53
ETHICS/SUNSHINE/PUBLIC
RECORDS
Good news!
If you are NOT a City or County
Commissioner
You do NOT have to listen to this
… for four hours
… every year!
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Questions?