May 3, 2002
This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on May 3, 2002, basing its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.
May an alderman also serve as a member of the National Guard?
State law restricts the Mississippi Ethics Commission to interpreting and issuing opinions on Sections 25-4-101 through 25-4-119, 1972 Mississippi Code Annotated and Article IV, Section 109, Mississippi Constitution of 1890.Therefore, this opinion does not address the Mississippi laws outside the Commission’s jurisdiction nor the governmental entity’s internal rules and regulations.
The pertinent conflict of interest laws to be considered here are:
Constitutional Section 109 states:
“No public officer or member of the legislature shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract with the state, or any district, county, city, or town thereof, authorized by any law passed or order made by any board of which he may be or may have been a member, during the term for which he shall have been chosen, or within one year after the expiration of such term.”
Code Section 25-4-101
states:
“The legislature declares that elective and public office and employment is a public trust and any effort to realize personal gain through official conduct, other than as provided by law, or as a natural consequence of the employment or position, is a violation of that trust.Therefore, public servants shall endeavor to pursue a course of conduct which will not raise suspicion among the public that they are likely to be engaged in acts that are in violation of this trust and which will not reflect unfavorably upon the state and local governments.”
Code Section 25-4-103(f)(i)(ii),
(g)(ii)(v), (h) and (p)(i)(ii)(iii) states:
“(f) “Contract” means:Code Section 25-4-105(1), (2) and (5) states:
(i) Any agreement to which the government is a party; or(g) “Governmental” means the state and all political entities thereof, both collectively and separately, including but not limited to:(ii) Any agreement on behalf of the government which involves the payment of public funds.
(ii) Municipalities; and(v) Any department, agency, board, commission, institution, instrumentality, or legislative or administrative body of the state, counties or municipalities created by statute, ordinance or executive order including all units that expend public funds.
(h) “Governmental entity” means the state, a county, a municipality or any other separate political subdivision authorized by law to exercise a part of the sovereign power of the state.(p) “Public servant” means:
(i) Any elected or appointed official of the government;(ii) Any officer, director, commissioner, supervisor, chief, head, agent or employee of the government or any agency thereof, or of any public entity created by or under the laws of the State of Mississippi or created by an agency or governmental entity thereof, any of which is funded by public funds or which expends, authorizes or recommends the use of public funds; or
(iii) Any individual who receives a salary, per diem or expenses paid in whole or in part out of funds authorized to be expended by the government.”
“(1) No public servant shall use his official position to obtain pecuniary benefit for himself other than that compensation provided for by law, or to obtain pecuniary benefit for any relative or any business with which he is associated.(2) No public servant shall be interested, directly or indirectly, during the term for which he shall have been chosen, or within one (1) year after the expiration of such term, in any contract with the state, or any district, county, city or town thereof, authorized by any law passed or order made by any board of which he may be or may have been a member.
(5) No person may intentionally use or disclose information gained in the course of or by reason of his official position or employment as a public servant in any way that could result in pecuniary benefit for himself, any relative, or any other person, if the information has not been communicated to the public or is not public information.”
Pertinent facts and circumstances provided by the requestor, absent
identifying data, are set forth as follows and considered a part of this
opinion.
I am requesting information to share with other organizations of the community about a non-conflict situation.A recently elected Alderman is also a National Guard member, but some members of the community feel that it’s a conflict of interest.Thanks for your cooperation in advance.
The Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinion No. 99-030-E in response to this request and by attachment incorporates it into this opinion.
Based solely on the facts and circumstances presented by the requestor, the Commission’s opinion is as follows.
It is not a violation of the state conflict of interest laws for an
alderman to serve as a member of the National Guard.[1]
This finding is based on a municipality and the state being separate
governmental entities.[2]
The requestor is advised to contact the State Attorney General’s Office regarding whether the holding simultaneously of the identified positions might be affected by laws outside of the state conflict of interest laws.
The requestor is referred to the attached Advisory Opinion No. 99-030-E for a discussion ofthe above cited state conflict of interest laws as they concern any local governmental board member who is also an employee of an agency or department of the state.
Scott Rankin
Executive Director