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 February 8, 1996.

May a legal secretary for the board attorney of a municipality remain in that employment position if the legal secretary is elected as an alderman of the same municipality?

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 governmental entity are not addressed by this opinion.

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 25-4-103(c), (d), (f)(i)(ii), (g)(ii), (h) and (p)(i) states:

"(c) 'Business' means any corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization, holding company, self-employed individual, joint stock company, receivership, trust or other legal entity or undertaking organized for economic gain, a non-profit corporation or other such entity, association or organization receiving public funds.

(d) 'Business with which he is associated' means any business of which a public servant or his relative is an officer, director, owner, partner, employee or is a holder of more than ten percent (10%) of the fair market value or from which he or his relative derives more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) in annual income or over which such public servant or his relative exercises control.

(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:

(ii) Municipalities.

(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 government." Code Section 25-4-105(2) and (3)(a) states:

"(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.

(3) No public servant shall:

(a) Be a contractor, subcontractor or vendor with the governmental entity of which he is a member, officer, employee or agent, other than in his contract of employment, or have a material financial interest in any business which is a contractor, subcontractor or vendor with the governmental entity of which he is a member, officer, employee or agent."

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 a legal secretary and I am planning to run for Alderman in the City Special Election. I work for two attorneys in private practice in the City. One of the attorneys is the City Attorney for the City. Would there be any ethical violations or conflicts if I should be elected to the position of Alderman, and one of the attorneys I work for is serving as the City Attorney. The attorney I work for presently serves as City Attorney and plans to continue in that capacity.

The Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinion No. 93-130-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 that the requestor' 5 simultaneous employment as a legal secretary for the municipality's board attorney and service as one of the municipality's aldermen is prohibited by the above cited Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a).

If elected alderman, the requestor would be a member of the municipal government and also have a material financial interest, as a salaried employee, in the law firm which through the board attorney has a contract with the municipality as addressed in the attached opinion.

Furthermore, should the requestor be elected and continue as an employee of the municipal board attorney, the requestor would be in violation of Constitutional Section 109 and Code Section 25-4-105(2), cited above, when the municipal board renews the board attorney's employment contract during the requestor's term.

The requestor is advised that a recusal or an abstention will not prevent a violation of Constitutional Section 109 or Code Section 25-4-105(2) and (3)(a). Even without the board member's vote, the authorization by the member's board nonetheless results in a contract in which the board member has a prohibited interest.

Ronald E. Crowe Executive Director