2014-11-12 Board of Ethics Minutes

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Ms. Schoen: I read it as there’s no campaigning whatsoever, doesn’t matter the person. Mr. Henricks: That’s not what it says though, it says you have to be in the jurisdiction of the County Code and it applies to you. Mr. Balsis: Perhaps then that could be clarified. Mr. Adams: The interesting thing about that is that we know that there are Parks and Recreation places that we bring candidates to and they do campaigning there, so some of that is confusing. The interesting thing in bringing this up is that our jurisdiction has been limited and there is no County jurisdiction, its State election. The State has maintained jurisdiction in those things we’re talking about here. You got the County election board that does the County, but when it comes to and the running of the election, but when it comes to looking at the veracity, veracity is not the right term, but… Mr. Henricks: Liability? Mr. Balsis: Properness? Mr. Adams: Yes, the appropriateness of what is happening. I’m not sure that there’s…we haven’t necessarily been given that authority under the Code. If we were going to look at this, this is more than a rules issue, this is a County Code issue which doesn’t necessarily mean that we can’t consider it. It’s something that’s come up in the past in terms of our ability to make sure that it’s a fair playing field for candidates regardless whether you’re current County employee or not. I think that’s what you’re talking about is where’s the fair playing field here. Mr. Henricks: It’s a double standard. Mr. Adams: On terms of leaving the County employment that seems like that’s a blanket, there’s a blanket rule there that says, once you leave then you’re no longer subjected to the Code of Ethics in the County Code with one exception and that is that one year working. Is that a correct understanding to that? Ms. Schoen: Yes, 2-91.2 discusses post-employment, so there has to be some kind of reconciliation between the definitions section 2-91.2 and also case law. 5