Ethics’ Gag Order: Keep Quiet Or Pay Up

A word to the wise: if you file a complaint with the Office of State Ethics, don’t tell anyone.

A formal advisory opinion from the Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board recently concluded that individuals who file a complaint with the board should not tell anyone about their complaint, or about the information that the ethics agency solicited from them for its investigation.

Otherwise, pay up.

The penalty? A civil fine of up to $10,000 for each violation.

Complainants are permitted to disclose the facts that form the basis of their complaint, but must stay mum that they have actually filed an ethics complaint, akin to a gag order.

According to state law, the ethics board may shine sunlight on the complaint following its finding ‘‘upon the respondent’s request.”

Old Question

The opinion clarifies the confidentiality provision in the state law on the matter. “We received multiple questions about this very topic in the past year or so,” said Brian O’Dowd, assistant general counsel for the Office of State Ethics. “There wasn’t a formal opinion drafted on the topic, and we decided it was about time.”

While the topic hadn’t been investigated formally, O’Dowd said the decision rendered was no different than it would have been years ago.

“I don’t think anything has changed from the old state ethics commission,” he said. “It just hadn’t been addressed.”

With the advisory opinion complete and available for perusal, O’Dowd said it should answer frequently asked questions once and for all.

While an individual’s acknowledgement that he or she has filed a formal complaint would appear to be a minor detail, it’s a detail that could potentially cost someone thousands of dollars.

Big Impact

The opinion, at first, seemed “a little strange” to Marshall Collins of Marshall R. Collins & Associates, a lobbyist firm.

“That’s something I wasn’t aware of that I couldn’t disclose a complaint if I filed one,” he said. “It’s interesting, though.”

Notably, an ethics complaint about a lobbyist firm could prove to be damaging, especially when the firm tries to lure or secure major contracts. The bottom line: disclosure of a complaint could cost the firm cold, hard cash.

“If you know how cutthroat it is to get business, probably more cutthroat than the lobbying, maybe someone could manufacture a charge and tell the newspaper,” said Collins. “Perish the thought of defending the ethics board, but maybe they’re actually protecting lobbyists. Because once you lose a major contract, you don’t get it back.”

There rarely comes a time when a lobbyist will turn in another lobbyist to the Office of State Ethics, unless they did something “really evil,” asserted Collins. But it wouldn’t prevent clients from complaining about lobbyists or other odd behaviors.

“Certainly in years past, if there was a lobbyist going out to dinner with a certain legislator every week, it would be an issue,” Collins said. “At the Association of Connecticut Lobbyists, we talk about what’s going on and what people are doing.”

The reasons prompting the ethics board’s opinion are gleaned from the state’s general statutes and the Constitution. However, the message is clear.

Just don’t talk.