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HomeMy WebLinkAbout79-069 TaddonioTO: 5 - e . 1, e c l STATE ETHICS COMMISSION 308 FINANCE BUILDING HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17120 OPINION OF TRH COMMISSIQN November 7, 1979 The Honorable Lee C. Taddonio State Representative 3619 Forbes Trail Drive Murrysville, PA 15668 RE: Members of General Assembly selling computer services to fellow Members FACTS: On October 10, Representative Lee wrote this Commission asking, "Would a Legislature be prohibited from selling to his fellow members for their use in of their normal legislative duties ?" 79 -069 C. Taddonio member of the computer services the performance He further advised that such services would normally "be paid for out of the individual member's reimbursable expense account." On October 30, Representative Taddonio advised by telephone call to the Executive Director that he has no dealings in computer services now. He is requesting an opinion to understand the limitations of a Member of the General Assembly selling computer services before he commits resources to such a project. He is thinking along the lines of timesharing services from a large computer base through terminals, rather than personal computers. He believes that computer expenses are reimbursable from Representatives' expense accounts. Richard Campbell, Executive Director of the Legislative Data Processing Center, has advised General Counsel that his office is prohibited from maintaining address lists of constituents and preparing voter profile analyses. In addition, the Data Processing Center would not object to a private business tabulating questionnaires from constituents. Lee C. Taddonio November 7, 1979 page 2 of 2 DISCUSSION: The issue is whether selling services to fellow Members of the General Asserbly presents "neither a conflict nor the appearance of a conflict with the public trust." (Section 1) Section 3(a) prohibits a public official from using his "public office or any financial. information received through his holding public office to obtain financial gain...." Representative Taddonio's situation is factually distinguishable from the case of Senator Edward L. Howard, Opinion No. 79 -44, in that Representative Taddonio proposes selling services to individual Members and not the "governmental body." In our Opinion of Senator James A. Romanelli, No. 1979 -6, we held that a Senator may pay himself rent from the Senate home office account for an office which he and his wife own without involving Section 3(c) of Act 170, because the source of funds is the expense account and not the governmental body. CONCLUSION: If Representative Taddonio obtains more than $500 from the sale of such services, this must be reported on his Financial Interest Statement. A Member of the Legislature is not prohibited from selling computer services to his fellow Members for their use in performance of their normal legislative duties. Pursuant to Section 7(9)(i), this opinion is a complete defense in any enforcement proceeding initiated by the Commission, and evidence of good faith conduct in any other civil or criminal proceeding, providing the requestor has disclosed truthfully all the material facts and committed the acts complained of in reliance on the advice given. This letter is a public record and will be made available as such.