CEO 78-30 -- May 18, 1978

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER PUBLISHER OF NEWSPAPER SELLING LEGAL ADVERTISING TO SCHOOL BOARD

To: Richard J. Gardner, Attorney for Gadsden County School Board, Quincy

Prepared by: Phil Claypool

SUMMARY:

A public officer is prohibited from acting in his official capacity to purchase any services for his public agency from a business entity in which he has a material interest and from acting in a private capacity to sell any services to his agency. Section 112.313(3), F. S. 1977. However, s. 112.313(12)(c), passed during the 1977 legislative session, provides an exemption to the application of s. 112.313(3) when "[t]he purchase or sale is for legal advertising in a newspaper, for any utilities service, or for passage on a common carrier." Accordingly, the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees does not prohibit a school board member from publishing a newspaper which sells legal advertising to that school board.

QUESTION:

Would a prohibited conflict of interest be created were a newspaper published by a school board member to sell legal advertising to the school board?

Your question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry you advise that Mr. Ramsey is the publisher of a newspaper of general circulation within Gadsden County.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides in relevant part:

DOING BUSINESS WITH ONE'S AGENCY. -- No employee of an agency acting in his official capacity as a purchasing agent, or public officer acting in his official capacity, shall either directly or indirectly purchase, rent, or lease any realty, goods, or services for his own agency from any business entity of which he or his spouse or child is an officer, partner, director, or proprietor or in which such officer or employee or his spouse or child, or any combination of them, has a material interest. Nor shall a public officer or employee, acting in a private capacity, rent, lease, or sell any realty, goods, or services to his own agency, if he is a state officer or employee, or to any political subdivision or any agency thereof, if he is serving as an officer or employee of that political subdivision. . . . [Section 112.313(3), F. S. 1977.]

This provision prohibits a public officer acting in his official capacity from purchasing any services for his agency from a business entity in which he has a material interest, and also prohibits a public officer acting in a private capacity from selling any services to his agency.

However, s. 112.313(12)(c), F. S. 1977, passed during the 1977 legislative session, provides an exemption to the application of s. 112.313(3), above, where

[t]he purchase or sale is for legal advertising in a newspaper, for any utilities service, or for passage on a common carrier. (Emphasis supplied.)

Accordingly, we find that the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees does not prohibit a school board member from publishing a newspaper which sells legal advertising to that school board.