First, decide what a gift is

The City Council last week voted to limit the amount the value of a

gift an elected or appointed city official can accept to $340.

Our question is why are they accepting gifts at all. It is

definitely a good discussion to have, especially if anyone is unsure

of what is OK. But first the council should decide what constitutes a

gift.

Letting the Chamber of Commerce comp your meal at an event when

you are there in an official capacity, such as to give a speech or

cut a ribbon, is fine. Your job requires you to be there, you can be

fed.

To accept a free dinner at the Californian in the Hyatt Regency

Huntington Beach Resort & Spa, or a free stay, however, is just flat

out wrong -- whether you have received your allotted $340 from them

or not. If an appointed or elected city official chooses to attend an

event, but not in an official capacity, they should be expected to

pay like anyone else.

The council decided on the $340 limit because that is the state

law. But saying that each person may accept up $340 in gifts from

each person or group in the city in a one-year time period is

excessive and dangerous. Do our City Council members think they are

going to be attending soirees on the level of our legislature?

The original city Code of Ethics prohibited council members from

accepting any gifts at all. While that could be violated readily, it

is still safer than the new policy.

“It even prohibited favors,” said City Atty. Jennifer McGrath.

As well it should. Our elected and appointed officials should not

be accepting gifts or favors from people or businesses that may later

need city approval on a project or the like.

City officials accepted free annual movie passes from Edwards

cinemas until 1997 when Edwards prepared to open a new cinema here.

It was legal and accepted for public officials to accept the

passes, as long as they reported the gift to the state Fair Political

Practices Commission and did not use them for more than $290 worth of

movies each year.

In January of 1997 Huntington Beach commissioners grew concerned

that keeping their passes might pose a conflict and asked then City

Atty. Gail Hutton for guidance. She pointed to Huntington’s “gift

ban,” which prohibits city officials from receiving gifts from people

doing business with the city to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Hutton advised commissioner not to accept the passes.

We would hope that it wouldn’t even be a question today, as the

practice was clearly unethical.

But just as clearly, not everyone is sure what a gift is. So

before council members decide how much a gift can be worth, they

should decide just what a gift is -- a question they so far have

avoided.