Advisory Opinion No. 2007-49

 Advisory Opinion No. 2007-49

Re: George M. Abbott

QUESTION PRESENTED:

The petitioner, a member of the CHARIHO Regional School Committee, a municipal elected position, requests an advisory opinion regarding whether the Code of Ethics prohibits his participation in contract negotiations between the School Committee and the CHARIHO support staff union, given that his wife’s cousin’s wife is a member of the union.

RESPONSE:

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner, a member of the CHARIHO Regional School Committee, may participate in contract negotiations between the School Committee and the CHARIHO support staff union, notwithstanding the fact that his wife’s cousin’s wife is a member of the union.

Commission Regulation 36-14-5004, entitled “Nepotism,” specifically prohibits persons subject to the Code of Ethics from participating in contract or collective bargaining negotiations which address or affect the employment, compensation or benefits of “any person within his or her family.”  Regulation 5004(b)(4)(A).   The phrase “any person within his or her family” is defined in Regulation 5004 as follows:

“Any person within his or her family” means, in addition to any other definition, any person who is related to any public official or public employee, whether by blood, marriage or adoption, as any of the following: spouse, father, step-father, father-in-law, mother, step-mother, mother-in-law, son, step-son, son-in-law, daughter, step-daughter, daughter-in-law, brother, step-brother, brother-in-law, sister, step-sister, sister-in-law, grandfather, step-grandfather, grandfather-in-law, grandmother, step-grandmother, grandmother-in-law, grandson, step-grandson, grandson-in-law, granddaughter, step-granddaughter, granddaughter-in-law, uncle, step-uncle, uncle-in-law, aunt, step-aunt, aunt-in-law, niece, step-niece, niece-in-law, nephew, step-nephew, nephew-in-law, first cousin, step-first cousin and first-cousin-in-law.

Regulation 5004(a)(1).  Included among the enumerated familial relations listed are “first cousin” and “first-cousin-in-law.” 

It is the opinion of the Ethics Commission that the term “first cousin” means the son or daughter of the brother or sister of one’s father or mother.  The term “first-cousin-in-law” means either the first cousin of one’s spouse, or the spouse of one’s own first cousin.  The term “first-cousin-in-law,” as used in Regulation 5004(a)(1), was not meant to include, and does not include, the spouse of one’s spouse’s first cousin. 

We consider it both necessary and reasonable to regulate a public official’s ability to take official action that financially impacts either the spouse of his natural or adopted relative, or that impacts his own spouse’s natural or adopted relative; these persons are a public official’s “in-laws” as that term is used in Regulation 5004. The term does not include a third family that may have married into one’s spouse’s family.

Based on the above, the wife of the petitioner’s wife’s cousin is not the petitioner’s “first-cousin-in-law” as that term is used in Regulation 5004.  Accordingly, the petitioner is not prohibited by the Code of Ethics from participating in the CHARIHO Regional School Committee’s contract negotiations with the support staff union.

Code Citations :

Regulation 5004

Related Advisory Opinions :

2007-36

2007-32

2007-31

Keywords :

Nepotism

Family: Public employment