Ask the City Ethicist
Rules About Political Activities

By SUNG MO KIM

Q.: I am a full-time public servant and have heard there might be restrictions on my personal political activities. Could you explain these restrictions?

A.: It's great that you want to be involved in political activities, but you are correct: the city's Conflicts of Interest Law places some restrictions on a public servant's political activity. These restrictions, contained in Chapter 68 of the City Charter, exist to ensure that your political activities do not cause a conflict of interest with your city job responsibilities. More particularly, these restrictions exist to protect public servants from actual or perceived pressure from a superior to work on political campaigns or give political contributions, and to separate party politics from city employment. We will discuss these restrictions in more detail below.

Engaging in political activities may involve a lot of different activities, but they fall generally within one of the following categories: volunteering for or contributing to a campaign, working for a campaign, fundraising on behalf of a candidate, and running for elected office.

Volunteering for a campaign or contributing to a campaign is generally okay. Of course, as with any non-city activity, your volunteer work must be done during your own time and without using city resources, which include, for example, city computers, phones, fax, copiers, letterhead, and personnel. In addition to the restrictions mentioned above, you may never ask your subordinates to participate in or contribute to a campaign. Moreover, you may not coerce or induce fellow employees to participate in or contribute to a campaign by, for example, threatening their job or promising them a raise or promotion.

Working for a campaign and getting paid for such work is also generally okay. But you must comply with all the restrictions stated above about not using city time or resources in connection with this work, follow any additional rules your own agency may have about outside employment, and make sure you do not communicate with any city agency on behalf of the campaign for which you work.

Fundraising on behalf of a candidate is generally okay, unless you are a highranking appointed official, in which case you are prohibited from asking any person to make a contribution to a campaign for city elected office. Even if you are not a high-ranking appointed official, keep in mind that you may not ask your subordinates to contribute to a campaign and may not coerce or induce fellow employees to contribute to a campaign.

Running for elected office is a little bit trickier. This is because, in addition to the city's conflicts of interest law, candidates for elected office may be subject to Mayoral Directive 91-7 and the Federal Hatch Act. As with the other political activities mentioned, the conflicts of interest law prohibits you from using city time or resources in connection with your non-city activity, including running for elected office. Also, high-ranking appointed officials are effectively barred from running for city office while keeping their city positions because, as noted above, neither they nor their campaign committee may solicit campaign contributions.

In addition, Mayoral Directive 91-7 requires certain public servants who work in exempt, provisional, and non-competitive positions to use annual leave or take a leave of absence from their jobs in order to run for elected office. Moreover, the Federal Hatch Act bars public servants who work in agencies that receive Federal funding from running for elected office in a partisan election, that is, an election in which any candidate represents, for example, the Democratic or Republican party.

If you are unsure whether your political activities create a conflict of interest, call the Conflicts of Interest Board at 212-442-1400 and ask for the attorney of the day. You can also e-mail us through our Web site (http://www.nyc.gov/ethics ) by clicking on "Contact COIB." All calls and e-mails are confidential, and you may contact us anonymously.

Mr. Kim is an Associate Counsel at the city Conflicts of Interest Board.