Advisory Opinion No. 2015-29 Rhode Island Ethics Commission Advisory Opinion No. 2015-29 Approved: July 21, 2015 Re: Colonel Steven G. O’Donnell QUESTION PRESENTED: The Petitioner, the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety and Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, a state appointed position, requests an advisory opinion regarding whether he is prohibited by the Code of Ethics from accepting a gift from the University of New Haven. RESPONSE: It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Petitioner, the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety and Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, a state appointed position, is not prohibited by the Code of Ethics from accepting a gift from the University of New Haven. The Petitioner received an undergraduate degree from the University of New Haven in 1982. He represents that, on April 30, 2015, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award (“Award”) from the University of New Haven’s Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Sciences. He informs that the Award consisted of a desk clock, plaque and cuff links. He represents that the value of the Award is more than twenty-five dollars ($25). Cognizant of the Code of Ethics, and out of an abundance of caution, the Petitioner seeks guidance as to whether the Code of Ethics prohibits him from accepting this gift from the University of New Haven, given that he is the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety and Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.[1] The Petitioner states that he has served in this position since his appointment in 2011. He states that the Department of Public Safety does not have any ongoing business dealings with the University of New Haven. He represents that it is possible that, in the future, he may authorize sending State Police troopers to trainings at the University of New Haven or that he or other troopers may be asked to speak there, because it is a law-enforcement school. However, he states that there are no such trainings or requests for speaking engagements currently scheduled with the University of New Haven, and any such future business dealings are hypothetical. Commission Regulation 36-14-5009 (“Regulation 5009”) provides that no public official shall accept a gift valued at more than twenty-five dollars ($25) from an “interested person.” Regulation 5009(b). An “interested person” is defined as a person or a representative of a person or business “that has a direct financial interest in a decision that the person subject to the Code of Ethics is authorized to make, or participate in the making of, as part of his or her official duties.” Regulation 5009(c). The Commission recently considered a similar fact pattern in Advisory Opinion 2015-13, in which a member of the Cranston City Council asked if he could accept a gift of cuff links, with a presumed value of over twenty-five dollars ($25), which belonged to a former Cranston City Council member and were given by that former Council member’s daughter. There, the Commission opined that the petitioner was not prohibited by the Code of Ethics from accepting the gift because the donor, a resident of Warwick who had no business relationships with the City of Cranston, was not an “interested person” as to the petitioner. In contrast, the Commission has opined that Regulation 5009 prohibits the acceptance of a gift valued at more than twenty-five dollars ($25) where the Commission has found that the gift was from an “interested person.” See, e.g., A.O. 2013-4 (opining that the Director of Economic Development for the City of Providence (“City”) was prohibited by Regulation 5009 from allowing ProvPort, a non-profit corporation that operates the Port of Providence (“Port”) pursuant to an agreement with the City, to pay for his travel expenses related to Port issues because he was personally involved in renegotiating ProvPort’s lease with the City, and he supervised the agency which had the authority to approve or reject ProvPort’s budget); A.O. 2012-3 (opining that vendors and businesses that do business with the City of Pawtucket were “interested persons” as to the various City officials who may make decisions regarding those businesses, including the Director of Administration and the Economic Development Director); A.O. 2007-28 (opining, inter alia, that the O’Neill Properties Group (“O’Neill”) was an “interested person” as to the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resource Center, because O’Neill had proposed development projects in the area for which the Coastal Resources Center was charged with developing the Special Area Management Plan). In the present matter, similar to Advisory Opinion 2015-13, the facts represented by the Petitioner do not indicate that the University of New Haven has an interest in any decision that the Petitioner is authorized to make as Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety and Superintendent of the State Police. The Petitioner states that the Department of Public Safety does not have any current business relationships with the University of New Haven, and any future business dealings are hypothetical. Therefore, the University of New Haven is not an “interested person” as to the Petitioner. For all of these reasons, it is the opinion of the Ethics Commission that the Petitioner is not prohibited by the Code of Ethics from accepting a gift from the University of New Haven. This Advisory Opinion is strictly limited to the facts stated herein and relates only to the application of the Rhode Island Code of Ethics. Under the Code of Ethics, advisory opinions are based on the representations made by, or on behalf of, a public official or employee and are not adversarial or investigative proceedings. Finally, this Commission offers no opinion on the effect that any other statute, regulation, ordinance, constitutional provision, charter provision, or canon of professional ethics may have on this situation. Code Citations: Commission Regulation 36-14-5009 Related Advisory Opinions: A.O. 2015-13 A.O. 2013-4 A.O. 2012-3 A.O. 2007-8 Keywords: Gifts [1] The Rhode Island Department of Public Safety, which was established in 2008, encompasses the following agencies: Rhode Island State Police; Division of the Rhode Island State Fire Marshal; E 9-1-1 Uniform Emergency Telephone System; Rhode Island Capitol Police; Rhode Island Municipal Police Training Academy; Rhode Island Division of Sheriffs; Public Safety Central Management Office; and Public Safety Grants Administration Office. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-7.3-1 to -10; http://www.dps.ri.gov/. In accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-7.3-5, the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety “shall also serve as superintendent of the Rhode Island state police.”