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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.