Advisory Opinion No. 1993-4
Affect Spouses Employer
The applicable Code section regarding a conflict for a
legislator taking official action on a bill is Conn. Gen. Stat. §1-85. With exceptions not pertinent, that section
prohibits a public official, including an elected state official, from taking
official action if she has reason to believe or expect that she, her spouse, or
a business with which she is associated will derive a direct monetary gain or
suffer a direct monetary loss, as the case may be, by reason of her official
activity. A business with which he is
associated includes a corporation in which the legislator or a member of her
immediate family is a paid director, officer, owner, or holder of five percent
or more of the total outstanding stock.
Conn. Gen. Stat. §1-79(b).
Officer refers only to the president, executive or senior vice
president or treasurer of such business.
E.G. & G. WASC, Inc. is not a business with which the
Senator is associated, for purposes of the Code, since neither she nor her
spouse hold five percent or more of the total outstanding stock and Mr. Cook is
neither a director nor one of the requisite officers. In this matter, Mr. Cooks employer may well
benefit from the passage of any favorable defense or manufacturing assistance
bills; but, in general, such legislation would not have any direct financial
impact on either Senator Cook or her spouse. The Commission has previously ruled that the Code does not
specifically prohibit a public official from taking official action which would
benefit ones employer, unless the employer had improperly influenced the
legislator. In the Matter of a Request
for a Declaratory Ruling, No. 92-C, Daniel J. Devlin, By order of the Commission, Christopher T. Donohue
Chairperson