Advisory Opinion No. 2007-16 Advisory Opinion No. 2007-16 Re: Giovanni Conti QUESTION PRESENTED: The petitioner, a member of the Johnston School Committee, a municipal elected position, requests an advisory opinion regarding whether he may participate in the Committee's review of bills submitted by The Providence Center, a provider of special education services that employs the petitioner's mother as an office assistant. RESPONSE: It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner, a member of the Johnston School Committee, a municipal elected position, may participate in the Committee's review of bills submitted by The Providence Center, a provider of special education services that employs the petitioner's mother as an office assistant. The petitioner is a member of the Johnston School Committee. He represents that the Johnston School Department contracts with The Providence Center, a statewide provider of mental health treatment to children and adults, for services relating to the School Department's special education programs. The petitioner states that The Providence Center regularly submits bills to the School Department, and that these bills go before the School Committee for review and approval. The petitioner advises that his mother has been employed by The Providence Center for several years as a medical office assistant. He states that her duties are primarily to provide general office assistance and reception services. The petitioner represents that, to the best of his knowledge, his mother's terms of employment are in no way linked to The Providence Center's provision of services to the Johnston School Department. The Code of Ethics provides that a public official shall not have any interest which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his duties in the public interest. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(a). A substantial conflict of interest occurs if it is reasonably foreseeable that the official or any family member or business associate, or any business by which the official is employed or represents will derive a direct monetary gain or suffer a direct monetary loss by reason of his official activity. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(a); Regulation 7001. Also, a public official may not use his public office or confidential information received through his office for financial gain for himself or any member of his family. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(d). While these provisions of the Code clearly prohibit the petitioner from participating in matters directly affecting his mother or other family members, or affecting his own employer, the Code does not generally preclude a public official from participating in matters affecting a family member's employer unless it is reasonably foreseeable that the matter involving the employer would also result in an impact to the family member. See A.O. 2000-39 (Burrillville Town Councilor may participate in Council's consideration of conflict between owner of Pascoag Lake and surrounding landowners, notwithstanding fact that Councilor's spouse is employed by Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island as Superintendent of its 180 acre facility abutting Pascoag Lake); A.O. 99-28 (concluding that Westerly Zoning Board of Review member could participate in review of Bess Eaton's application to construct drive-thru where there is no evidence that such construction would impact his spouse’s employment in applicant’s bakery department); and A.O. 98-45 (advising Administrator of Rhode Island Division of Public Utilities and Carriers that he could participate in matters that relate to telecommunications industry or Bell Atlantic despite fact this his spouse was employed by Bell Atlantic since there was no evidence that matter would impact his wife’s employment interest). Notwithstanding these prior advisory opinions where the Commission found no conflict of interest, the Commission has also identified circumstances in which a decision involving a spouse's employer was likely to financially impact the spouse. In A.O. 2000-16, the question presented involved how the Executive Director of Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation (R.I. Housing) could avoid potential conflicts of interest given R.I. Housing's business dealings with and funding of a not-for-profit community development organization that employed his fiancée as its Executive Director. There, the Commission found that R.I. Housing decisions impacting the fiancée's organization would necessarily impact the fiancée because her employer was dependent upon funding from R.I. Housing to accomplish its mission. See also A.O. 97-35 (concluding, inter alia, that Tiverton School Committee member should not participate or vote on any matter relating to florist services, given her spouse owns a floral shop and has had a business relationship with the School Department). In the instant matter, the petitioner represents that to the best of his knowledge his mother's employment as an office assistant with The Providence Center is completely unrelated to the Center's provision of services to the Johnston School Department. If this is the case, and we assume it to be for the purposes of this advisory opinion, then the petitioner's mother's employment is not a bar to his participation in the School Committee's review and approval of bills submitted by The Providence Center. Should circumstances change in a way that makes a financial impact to the petitioner's mother seem more likely, then the petitioner should either recuse from participation or seek additional guidance from the Commission. If recusing, a written notice must be filed with the Ethics Commission pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-6. Code Citations: 36-14-5(a) 36-14-5(d) 36-14-7(a) Commission Regulation 7001 Related Advisory Opinions: 2000-39 2000-16 99-28 98-45 97-54 97-35 96-105 96-7 95-12 95-55 Keywords: Family Financial interest Private employment