This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on January 9, 2004, basing its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.
 

May a supervisor-elect take office when he has totally divested himself of any financial interest in a bail bonding company?

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:

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(e), (f)(i)(ii), (g)(i), (h), (p)(i)(ii)(iii) and (q) states:
 

“(e) ‘Compensation’ mean money or thing of value received, or to be received, from any person for services rendered.
 
(f) ‘Contract’ means:

(i) Any agreement to which the government is a party; or

(ii) Any agreement on behalf of the government which involves the payment of public funds.

(g) ‘Governmental’ means the state and all political entities thereof, both collectively and separately, including but not limited to:

(i) Counties.

(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.

(q) ‘Relative’ means the spouse, child or parent.”

Pertinent facts and circumstances provided by the requestor, absent identifying data, are set forth as follows and considered a part of this opinion.
 

This office represents the County Board of Supervisors.  In the recent election, an incoming supervisor was elected that was a licensed bail bondsman.  That supervisor was the sole owner of a corporation through which the bail bond services were provided.  Due to obvious conflicts with that supervisor writing bonds which would be approved by the County Sheriff’s Department, that supervisor has sold all the stock of the bail bonding company to his sister.  That sister does not live with him nor is she financially dependent upon him.  The supervisor’s sister will obtain her own license to act as a bail bonds person.  The incoming supervisor nor his immediate family that is dependent upon him will work for the bail bonding company.  I would appreciate receiving your opinion as to whether there is any conflict or other problem with regard to this situation.

The Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinion No. 02-028-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 subject to the following. The requestor is cautioned to advise the supervisor-elect that it is the Commission’s understanding of the facts that the supervisor-elect and the corporation are not owed a financial obligation for the transfer of the bonding company to the sister; the supervisor-elect and the corporation are not to receive funds generated through the bonding company indirectly from the bonding company or the sister; and that the transfer of the bonding company does not include a requirement that the bonding company will revert to the corporation after the supervisor-elect leaves office. If any of the above described circumstances, or similar circumstances exist, this opinion is no longer applicable and the requestor should notify the Commission immediately.

It appears from the facts provided in this request that the supervisor-elect has totally divested himself of any interest in his former bail bonding company. That being the case, there should be no conflict of interest under these circumstances when the supervisor-elect takes office. The conflict of interest laws do not prohibit the sister of a county supervisor from writing bail bonds for defendants housed by the county sheriff’s department.

There are circumstances where the spouse, parent or child of a county supervisor will be prohibited by the conflict of interest laws from serving as a bail agent for the supervisor’s county.  However, these circumstances are limited to the spouse, parent or child of the public servant as they are the only kinship included in the definition of “relative” set forth in Code Section 25-4-103(g), as cited above.

The issue presented by the requestor also must be viewed as it relates to Code Section 25-4-101, set forth above. This code section sets the tone for the conflict of interest laws as the Legislature’s “Declaration of Public Policy.” This public policy can be summarized as any circumstance having the potential of creating suspicion among the public and reflecting unfavorably  upon the state or local government should be closely reviewed by public servants with the intent to reduce or eliminate any suspicion on the part of the public which detracts from the public’s trust in state or local government.

Clearly, a supervisor’s sister acting as an agent for a bail bonding company that provides bail bonds to individuals being held in the county jail of the county her brother serves as supervisor has the potential of creating suspicion among the public and reflecting unfavorably upon the county. Therefore, the bail bond agent must be careful to avoid situations which might cause the public concern while dealing with the county her brother serves as supervisor .
 
 

Scott Rankin
Executive Director