2005-11-09 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular mc

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FUKE: Okay. I just wanted to have that clarified. Then, also in terms of like your expenditures, if you have the form in how you determine expenditures, so I'm going to be very specific, . Every Christmas I give council members a can of peanuts. And it costs like about, actually $18, no more than $20, and it's not related to any application or whatever, so the question is, do I have to report that, because if there's nine council members and maybe like their staff or whatever, cumulatively, like ten, you might have more than $275, so CHAIR: - -let me put that back in your lap. You've already registered as a lobbyist, right? FUKE: Correct. CHAIR: What subject area? FUKE: I registered two times, one because I had two pending applications before the County Council, on two separate applications, and I would assume that this five hours, $275, relates to each application, correct, right? So I just wanted— CHAIR: - -it occurs to me that that contribution at Christmas is not directly lobbying, but you are a registered lobbyist, so they know comes, Fuke Planning Consultant, you know FUKE: Well the council members on their own respectively have to make their own reporting. CHAIR: That's right. The gift disclosure would seem to take care of it, I should think. BLT: Also, one of the definitions is whether the expenditure is made for a lobbying purpose, and because the gift—my personal recollection is that the gift comes in, it's not related to any particular application, it gets recorded by the Council members—by the way, they're very good peanuts —and it's not intended to persuade someone to vote one way or another. So I don't think something like that however, you take somebody out to lunch so you can discuss a matter, and that's a lobbying lunch, and that's an expenditure. CHAIR: The mechanics of the form I wrestle with, but I do seeI mean, there is a subject area and so I think common sense would seem to prevail on that. But the retroactive is still an issue. What else? FUKE: Under —you talk about like, expenditures for the purpose of lobbying in the total sum of $25 or more per day. So if you have a lunch with one of the council members, for example, and the lunch comes out to like $30, and you figure out 15/15, do you have to register that? Or is it like $25 cumulatively, for the whole activity. 15