County Busy Sending Gifts --Back, That Is : Government: Ban sets poinsettias packing and turkeys trotting. In this holiday season of giving, officials aren’t taking.

The stockings are hung and the lights all strung, but there are to be no presents under the tree this year for Orange County government officials.

No fruit baskets. No poinsettia deliveries. No bottles of cognac. In the first Christmas season since the county’s new gift ban, the holiday goodies once lavished on lawmakers by lobbyists and others are all prohibited.

In Supervisor Roger R. Stanton’s office, staff members have been busy packing up holiday calendars and sending them back.

Employees in county recorder’s office recently rerouted five holiday turkeys that landed on the front counter.

“There is no question the word is out,” Stanton said. “Everybody is getting the message.”

In years past, neither the turkeys nor the calendars might have prompted a second thought. But this year, with an ordinance that governs the sharing of even a friendly six-pack, lobbyists bearing gifts have sent some newly enlightened government employees running to the telephone to call for legal opinions.

Deputy County Counsel James Meade said the office has received about 300 calls from employees with questions about the new rules since the gift ban took effect in June.

The regulations were approved in the wake of former Supervisor Don R. Roth’s misdemeanor conviction in March of violating state ethics laws. He failed to report thousands of dollars in gifts of home landscaping, meals and other favors from those who did business with the county.

The new rules prohibit top county employees from accepting gifts from those who do business with the county or are seeking government contracts.

In the past six months, Meade said, his office has held about 35 seminars to educate the 1,600-plus employees covered by the ordinance.

Meade has even developed his own holiday-themed shtick for the sessions, sometimes donning a Santa cap in an attempt to liven explanation of the law’s dry intricacies.

“People at the county are taking this thing seriously,” Meade said. “There is a definite awareness out there.”

Attorney William Mitchell, the head of the local chapter of Common Cause who helped develop the county’s gift ban, said the calls to the county counsel’s office “shows how pervasive the practice was in county government.”

“This should alert the public about the value of this ordinance,” Mitchell said. “Otherwise, these gifts would have been given freely and freely accepted. There is only one reason why they are given, and that is to influence the decision-making process.”

During the holiday season and down economy, Mitchell said, many people who used to send presents are probably relieved.

“Now, they have an excuse not to give anymore,” he said. “Now, they don’t have to give just to compete with other contractors.”

As the gifts continue to trickle in, Meade said his office stands ready to provide advice.

As for the turkeys, he said the birds were shipped to a local charity.

A New Way of Doing Business

With only limited exceptions, Orange County’s gift ordinance bans all gifts from companies or individuals that have had business before the county in the past year or have attempted to influence a county decision during that time.

The law provides for criminal misdemeanor penalties for violations by either public officials or gift-givers.

It covers 1,650 county employees and members of government boards and commissions. They include: the Board of Supervisors, Orange County Planning Commission members, the district attorney, county counsel, treasurer, chief administrative officer and employees who manage public investments.

In a county memo outlining the issue, employees are warned that even ordinary “friendly favors from a neighbor may come within the scope of the ordinance,” if it is determined that neighbors hold business relationships with the county or are seeking government contracts.

“Be aware that almost everything is a free gift,” the memo continues. “The best and surest way to avoid problems in this area is to not accept any gift unless you are dead sure it doesn’t fall within the terms of the ordinance. Pay for your own lunch. Leave a quarter when you take that cup of coffee. If you share a taxi, pay for your part of the ride.”