This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The opinion is based solely on the facts and circumstances as stated below and was approved by the Commission on August 25, 1995.

May a municipal governing authority accept donations for its police department that come from the net proceeds of a bingo game operated for and on behalf of a charitable organization whose purpose is to promote and assist law enforcement agencies when the police department is responsible for enforcing state regulations and laws pertaining to bingo games?

    The Mississippi Ethics Commission is restricted 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, Mississippi laws outside the jurisdiction of the Commission and internal rules and regulations of the local governmental entity are not addressed by this opinion.

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 25-4-105(1), (3)(d) and (5) states:

"(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.

(3) No public servant shall:

(d) Perform any service for any compensation during his term of office or employment by which he attempts to influence a decision of the authority of the governmental entity of which he is 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 part of this opinion.

I am writing to request an official opinion from your office concerning to what charity a charitable bingo organization can donate.

In accordance to Miss. Code Ann.§97-33-52(Supp. 1994), a bingo game may be conducted if; inter alia, the game is held for the benefit of a charitable organization that is licensed pursuant to either Miss. Code Ann. §97-33-55 or §97-33-59. Mississippi Code Ann. §97-33-52 also requires that a bingo game may be conducted if all "net proceeds derived from a bingo game... be expended only for the purposes for which the organization is created." The Mississippi Gaming Commission is authorized under Miss. Code Ann. §97-33-107(f) to execute and enforce all provisions of the appropriate laws, including assisting local law enforcement agencies in enforcing such regulations.

The specific facts in question are as follows. A non-profit corporation, located in this municipality, is licenced to operate as a charitable organization. The organization's purpose submitted to the Mississippi Gaming Commission is to promote and assist law enforcement agencies. The non-profit corporation has donated its net profits directly to the municipality's police department.

The specific question follows: May the municipality's police department, a regulatory body that enforces laws concerning the municipality bingo's operations, receive a donation from the non-profit corporation? Or put another way, may the non-profit corporation, an organization the police department regulates, donate to the department under the guise of fulfilling the purpose of the charitable organization? The appearance of impropriety is of utmost concern.

 

Ronald E. Crowe Executive Director