OD STATE OF ALABAMA ETHICS COMMISSION MAILING ADDRESS P.O. BOX 4840 MONTGOMERY, AL 36103-4840 STREET ADDRESS RSA UNION 100 NORTH UNION STREET SUITE 104 MONTGOMERY, AL 36104 H. Dean Buttram, Jr., Esq. Chairman James T. Pursell, Vice-Chairman Henry B. Gray III Camille S. Butrus Helen Shores Lee, Esq. E. J. (Mac) McArthur Director July 10, 1996 TELEPHONE (334) 242-2997 FAX (334) 242-0248 ADVISORY OPINION NO. 96-57 Ms. DiannaMcLain President Third Division Highway Chapter Alabama State Employees Association Post Office Box 2745 Birmingham, Alabama 35202 Solicitation Of Thing Of Value/ Members Of The Alabama State Employees Association, Third Division Transportation Chapter Soliciting Door Prizes And Contributions For Camp Smile-A- Mile. Members of the Alabama State Employees Association, Third Division Transportation Chapter may solicit a thing of value from a person or business with whom they do not directly inspect, regulate, or supervise in their official capacity when the solicitation is done for a non-profit organization, where there is no personal gain to the public employee, and no influencing of official action. Members of the Alabama State Employees Association, Third Division Transportation Chapter may
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OD
STATE OF ALABAMA
ETHICS COMMISSIONMAILING ADDRESS
P.O. BOX 4840
MONTGOMERY, AL36103-4840
STREET ADDRESS
RSA UNION100 NORTH UNION STREET
SUITE 104
MONTGOMERY, AL 36104H. Dean Buttram, Jr., Esq. ChairmanJames T. Pursell, Vice-Chairman
Solicitation Of Thing Of Value/Members Of The Alabama StateEmployees Association, ThirdDivision Transportation ChapterSoliciting Door Prizes AndContributions For Camp Smile-A-Mile.
Members of the Alabama State
Employees Association, ThirdDivision Transportation Chapter maysolicit a thing of value from a personor business with whom they do notdirectly inspect, regulate, orsupervise in their official capacitywhen the solicitation is done for a
non-profit organization, where thereis no personal gain to the publicemployee, and no influencing ofofficial action.
Members of the Alabama StateEmployees Association, ThirdDivision Transportation Chapter may
Ms. Dianna McLainAdvisory Opinion No. 96-57Page two
not solicit a thing of value from avendor who does business with theDepartment of Transportation thatthey directly inspect, regulate, orsupervIse.
Dear Ms. McLain:
The Alabama Ethics Commission is in receipt of your request for an Advisory Opinion ofthis Commission, and this opinion is issued pursuant to that request.
QUESTION PRESENTED
May the Alabama State Employees Association, Third Division Transportation Chaptersolicit door prizes and tee sponsorships for the benefit of Camp Smile-A-Mile?
FACTS AND ANALYSIS
In the past, the Third Division Transportation Chapter of the Alabama State EmployeesAssociation has held a golf tournament at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course in Birmingham.The tournament is for the benefit of Camp Smile-A-Mile which is a non-profit organization thatholds a summer camp for children with cancer. The camp is patterned so that a child can go tocamp and just be a child. Many of the doctors and nurses present at Camp Smile-A-Mile usetheir only vacation time to go to the camp to be able to provide the children with the cancertreatments they must have.
Last year the tournament raised ten thousand six hundred dollars ($10,600.00) with themajority coming from tee sponsorships in amounts ranging from one hundred dollars ($100.00)to one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). In soliciting businesses for tee sponsors, they contactedcontractors, vendors, and consultants. Most of the donations came from these companies;however, the chapter Golf Committee was also a tee sponsor, and some state employees donatedmoney as tee sponsors.
The majority of the checks they received last year were made out to Camp Smile-A-Mileand were immediately transmitted to the charity for prompt use. A few of the checks for teesponsors were made out to the chapter and were used for administrative costs such as stationary,stamps, copies, paper, etc. The chapter used its checking account to conduct these transactions;
Ms. Dianna McLain
Advisory Opinion No. 96-57Page three
however, they documented and receipted all tournament expenses.
Door prizes were solicited from local businesses such as hotels, hospitals, insurancecompanies, cookie bakeries, banks, etc. Some of the donated items were used for ditty bags, andsome were used as door prizes.
Some of the door prizes included a local car dealership sponsoring a hole-in-one contestwith prizes ranging from a new car to airline tickets and golf equipment.
At last year's tournament, the persons who were asked to donate, were in some cases,people that the Department of Transportation did business with; however, the persons solicitingthe donations had no influence over the awarding of contracts to any of these contractors,vendors, and consultants. The requestor of the opinion points out that she does not think that anybusinesses felt pressured in any way to donate to the cause.
At the end of last year's tournament, all but approximately one hundred forty dollars($140.00) was turned over to Camp Smile-A-Mile. The Alabama State Employees Association,Third Division Transportation Chapter retained one hundred forty dollars ($140.00) for use aspostage, stationary, thank-you letters to donors, and to purchase a post office box and open aseparate checking account for the next tournament. The requestor further points out that many ofthe participants last year have requested to donate to tournaments in the future.
Neither the Alabama State Employees Association, Third Division TransportationChapter, individual members, or the Department of Transportation received any financial benefitfrom the tournament. The benefit they received was the pride they felt in doing something forthe community.
They would like to host a similar golf tournament this year; however, they do not want tobe in violation of the Alabama Ethics Law.
The requestor of the opinion stresses that at no time did any person involved use theirstate positions to intimidate or suggest preferential treatment for donating. None of the peopleinvolved are Department Heads who have any influence over awarding of contracts or purchaseorders. All of their jobs are subject to much review.
The Alabama Ethics Law, Code of Alabama, 1975, Section 36-25-5(a) states:
(a) No public official orpublic employee shall use or cause to be used his or her officialposition or office to obtain personal gainfor himself or herself, orfamily member of thepublic employee orfamily member of the public official, or any business with which the
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Ms. Dianna McLainAdvisory Opinion No. 96-57Page four
person is associated unless the use and gain are otherwise specifically authorized by law.Personal gain is achieved when thepublic official,public employee, or afamily memberthereof receives, obtains, exerts control over, or otherwise converts topersonal use theobject constituting such personal gain. "
Section 36-25-5( c) states:
"(c) No public official or public employee shall use or cause to be used equipment,facilities, time, materials, human labor, or other public property under his or herdiscretion or control for the private benefit or business benefit of the public official,public employee, any other person, or principal campaign committee as defined inSection 17-22A-2, which would materially affect his or her financial interest, except asotherwise provided by law or as provided pursuant to a lawful employment agreementregulated by agency policy. "
Section 36-25-5( e) states:
"(e)No public official orpublic employee shall, other than in the ordinary course ofbusiness, solicit a thing of valuefrom a subordinate or person or business with whom heor she directly inspects, regulates, or supervises in his or her official capacity. "
Sections 36-25-7(a) and 36-25-7(b) state:
"(a)No person shall offer or give to apublic official orpublic employee or a member ofthe household of a public employee or a member of the household of thepublic officialand none of the aforementioned shall solicit or receive a thing of valuefor the purpose ofinfluencing official action. "
"(b)No public official orpublic employee shall solicit or receive a thing of valueforhimself or herself orfor afamily member of thepublic employee orfamily member of thepublic officialfor thepurpose of influencing official action. "
From the facts as presented, the door prizes being solicited by the Third DivisionHighway Transportation of the Alabama State Employees Association are not being done so forthe purpose of either personal benefit or influencing official action, nor are the individualssoliciting the door prizes and contributions, individuals who directly inspect, regulate, orsupervise the businesses from which the items are being solicited.
The individuals involved, should not solicit door prizes and contributions fromcompanies and individuals that do business with the Department of Transportation.
Ms. Dianna McLainAdvisory Opinion No. 96-57Page five
Based on the facts as provided and the applicable law, members of the Alabama StateEmployees Association, Third Division Transportation Chapter may conduct a golf tournamentfor the benefit of Camp Smile-A-Mile, and may solicit and receive contributions for the benefitof the program, based on the fact that the people involved do not directly inspect, regulate, orsupervise the businesses from which the thing of value is being solicited.
CONCLUSION
Members of the Alabama State Employees Association, Third Division TransportationChapter may solicit a thing of value from a person or business with whom they do not directlyinspect, regulate, or supervise in their official capacity when the solicitation is done for a non-profit organization, where there is no personal gain to the public employee, and no influencing ofofficial action.
Members of the Alabama State Employees Association, Third Division TransportationChapter may not solicit a thing of value from a vendor who does business with the Department ofTransportation that they directly inspect, regulate, or supervise.
AUTHORITY
By 5 - 0 vote of the Alabama Ethics Commission on July 1Q,
