The New Office of State Ethics has explicitly stated that state legislators, even though part-time, may not solicit lobbyists or their clients according to the Courant.

The opinion by Barbara E. Housen, general counsel to the ethics board, says that Amann must stop soliciting lobbyists or their clients on behalf of the MS Society. Amann recently gave up soliciting lobbyists, but not their clients.

Amann had said he was ending the solicitation of lobbyists only to protect the MS society from recent adverse publicity - not because he sees any impropriety in raising money from lobbyists on behalf of his private employer.

But Housen’s opinion explicitly rejects that view.

“It is the board’s view that soliciting lobbyists undermines public confidence in the honesty, fairness and impartiality of a public official,” Housen wrote. She concluded that soliciting lobbyists is “inherently coercive and creates an atmosphere of intimidation.”

The new standards still have to be approved by the Citizens Ethics Advisory Board on Thursday.

An opinion issued in 2005 by a counsel to the now-defunct State Ethics Commission saw no conflict in Amann’s outside employment, so long as he did not directly benefit from the contributions.

But Housen wrote that the ethics code’s clear prohibition against a legislator using his office for direct financial gain would be meaningless if it allowed gain for an official’s private employer.

“Financial gain for one’s employer is in essence financial gain for oneself, whether direct or indirect,” Housen wrote.

Robert Frankel, chief of staff to the House Democratic majority, called that conclusion “a radical departure from prior interpretations of this ethics code.”

In the past, ethics rules have been interpreted to permit a lawmaker to vote on a matter of interest to his employer if the legislator did not have an equity interest in his company.

These new standards will have an effect on the type of part time legislator that can hold office. It will be interesting to see if there’s a push to create a full time legislature as a result. From the standpoint of the quality of bills pushed through with our part time legislature, I think its a good idea.

source: Hartford Courant, New Ethics Standards Proposed, By MARK PAZNIOKAS, March 27, 2007