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Gift-giving to public officials: In Pa., the sky's the limit

There was the vacation trip to the Florida beach home of defense lawyer Richard Hoy, the complimentary tickets to the Phillies, the $45,000 roof, window, and insulation job from South Jersey developer Lynmar Builders.

District Attorney Seth Williams has received more than $160,000 in services, lodging, entertainment, and cash compensation since 2010.
District Attorney Seth Williams has received more than $160,000 in services, lodging, entertainment, and cash compensation since 2010.Read moreYONG KIM / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

There was the vacation trip to the Florida beach home of defense lawyer Richard Hoy, the complimentary tickets to the Phillies, the $45,000 roof, window, and insulation job from South Jersey developer Lynmar Builders.

For Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, 2013 was a banner gift year, more than $75,000 in all.

But the giving could have been even more lavish and still entirely legal.

That's because under Pennsylvania law and the city ethics code, the sky is the limit. Pennsylvania law imposes no ceiling on the dollar value of gifts to public officials, so long as the donor is not seeking to influence official decision-making.

City ethics rules are a little tighter, banning gifts of more than $99 by donors who have interests that might be affected by the official who receives the gift.

Federal and state anti-bribery laws make it a crime for public officials to accept things of value in exchange for official action. There is no evidence that Williams did anything for the people who gave to him.

In all, Williams filed amended disclosure reports with the city ethics board Monday showing that he had received more than $160,000 in services, lodging, entertainment, and cash compensation since 2010. His lawyer, Samuel Stretton, said that the failure to file the reports on time was a "terrible mistake" and that there was "no good answer" for why the reports hadn't been filed.

Williams followed that up with an email to his staff at the District Attorney's Office apologizing for the distraction caused by the media attention focused on his disclosures.

The gifts disclosures prompted renewed calls for a ban on gifts to public officials by good-government advocates and others who say such largesse creates a conflict of interest, raises questions about the motivations of officials, and undermines public confidence in government.

"One hundred and sixty thousand is not cheesesteaks," said Barry Kauffman, senior adviser to Pennsylvania Common Cause. "It keeps coming back to the same thing: Why is the money being given?"

Kauffman is pushing for enactment of a Senate bill in Harrisburg that would ban gifts to public officials from anyone with an economic interest who might be affected by an official's action.

The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Rob Teplitz, a Democrat whose district encompasses Harrisburg and surrounding communities, creates an exception for friends and relatives. Philadelphia Bar Chancellor Gaetan Alfano says there should be an outright ban except for family members.

"There should be an outright prohibition on gifts except when they come from members of the family or are of a de minimus nature," he said. "Bright-line rules leave nothing to interpretation."

While Teplitz's bill would tighten the rules in Pennsylvania, making it one of the more stringent in the nation, the state still would lag behind California, which bans any gift of more than $10 in a calendar year, no matter the source.

For now, Pennsylvania rules are broadly permissive, making it legal for public officials to accept seemingly limitless gifts from a wide array of sources.

Williams, however, potentially faces thousands of dollars in fines - the city ethics code calls for penalties of as much as $2,000 for each offense - for failing to report the gifts to the ethics board, which has meted out harsh penalties in the past.

Such was the case in 2012, when the board imposed fines and repayments of $48,834 on City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown for a string of campaign-finance and gift-rule violations, including receiving an undisclosed $3,300 loan from Chaka Fattah Jr., son of former Congressman Chaka Fattah, and repaying the loan with campaign funds.

Williams' problems go well beyond the ethics board, however. The FBI reportedly is investigating his use of campaign funds and has interviewed members of his staff in the District Attorney's Office.

Federal corruption probes have been subject to increased judicial scrutiny of late. On June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the criminal conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, on charges that he and his wife had accepted $175,000 in illegal gifts from Virginia entrepreneur Jonnie Williams. Williams was seeking to persuade Virginia officials to conduct clinical trials on his product, a nutritional supplement.

McDonnell did set up meetings for Williams with state officials who might have been able to help, but the Supreme Court said that wasn't enough. For McDonnell's conduct to breach federal law, prosecutors had to show that McDonnell took official action that furthered Williams' cause.

Setting up meetings wasn't enough, the Supreme Court said.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court established a similar standard with its decision in Commonwealth v. Fred Moran. Moran, a Haverford Township commissioner, was convicted in 2007 of pressuring a developer to pay $500,000 to the township in exchange for an accelerated zoning approval process.

The court said it was of no import that Moran did not personally benefit from the transaction - Moran intended for the money to be used to balance the township budget. What public officials may not do is condition a "decision, opinion, recommendation," or other official act on the payment of a benefit, the court said in its opinion.

"The Pennsylvania statute requires a link to some decision or some violation of a known legal duty," said Temple University criminal law professor Jules Epstein.

Attorney ethics rules might also come into play in such situations, but in cases where a public official is under scrutiny by law enforcement, they typically are enforced only after the criminal probe is brought to a conclusion.

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