2005-10-12 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular mc

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blessed to have Ms. Leithead -Todd as counsel, because she's been —she's well experienced in planning, in the County Council, and legal research pursuant to planning. BLT: Just to clarify. In the request to do additional research, I would probably also want to cover not just the definition of lobbyist, but also exactly what types of expenditures are required to be reported, and that's because I got the incorrect perhaps from Mr. Fuke —that the $275 figure was based on compensation, and it is not. It is based on actual expenditures. So it would be things like if you take a council member out to lunch to discuss proposed legislation, and you paid for the lunch CHAIR: - -$20 worth- BLT: - -then that's an expenditure, and it would be if you had $27 lunches and there were ten $27 lunches - -$27 , so that you got to that, and that's how you get to that $275. So I would cover that, too, and that's because there is a difference between the County Code and some of the requirements in the State, and I did look at some opinions on how you add up the five hours, because it —the five hours is only when you are actively meeting with someone to influence them and speak to them, so they've had some specific calculations in terms of that, so it may be that in some of cases, Mr. Fuke can make a judgment call that he doesn't have to register for a particular application, because he's not going to hit the five hours and he's not going to expend $275. WJ: I have a question, because it says any individual engaged for pay. BLT: Who spends more than five hours in a month or $275 in any six -month period. WJ: Or $275. BLT: Yes. So if he spends five hours- WJ: - -If you're engaged for pay, wouldn't you then be a lobbyist? BLT: Not necessarily. WJ: But that's how I interpret this. BLT: You can be engaged for pay to do paperwork, but if you never contact County officials to urge passage or defeat- WJ: - -wait a minute, I understand that- BLT: - -and the pay or other consideration is qualified by who spends more than five hours in any month or expends $275. So in other words, you could be hired for some matter, but if you didn't —like let's say today's hearing, because there isn't a requirement that you be represented by an attorney here, or —and you know, 15