Advisory Opinion No. 96-105

Re: Susan P. Morrison

QUESTION PRESENTED

The petitioner, Chief of the Office of Systems Planning in the Division of Planning, Department of Administration, a state employee position, requests an advisory opinion as to whether any impermissible conflicts exist under the Code of Ethics given that her position includes staff work for the State Planning Council and that her spouse is employed by an engineering firm which has business before the Department of Transportation which carries out programs established by the State Planning Council.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner, Chief of the Office of Systems Planning in the Division of Planning, Department of Administration, a state employee position, does not have any impermissible conflicts under the Code of Ethics by virtue of the fact that her position includes staff work for the State Planning Council and that her spouse is employed by a company with business before the Department of Transportation which carries out programs established by the State Planning Council. This opinion is based on the petitioner's position as a staff member of the State Planning Council and its Transportation Advisory Committee, which is not involved with selection of highway engineering consultants, and her spouse's work involving buildings, with another division of his company at a different location handling highway design. Because of the lack of financial nexus or significant relationship between the spouse's employment activities and matters before the petitioner, a substantial conflict with the petitioner's duties in the public interest is not present. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(a), 7(a).

Code Citations:

36-14-5(a)

36-14-7(a)

Related Advisory Opinions:

96-7

95-12

93-28

93-25

91-34

Keywords:

family: private employer