Advisory Opinion No. 1993-4
Affect Spouse’s 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. Cook’s 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 one’s 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