Holiday Parties - Examples

EXAMPLE 1: Effective Partners, a lobbyist registered with the City and New
York State, offers complimentary tickets to Council employees to attend its
annual holiday party.

=> Council employees may not accept, because state law prohibits the lobbyist
from offering the invitation to public servants.

Reason: New York State law prohibits lobbyists from giving gifts – in any
amount – to public servants.

EXAMPLE 2: XYZ, Inc. is a not-for-profit. It is not a lobbyist or a client of a

lobbyist. However, it does get funding from the City Council through the budget.
It offers complimentary tickets to Council employees, and a guest, to attend
XYZ’s annual holiday party.

=> Council Members, and a guest, may accept.

=> Council Member aides, and a guest, may accept if the Members authorize it.
=> Central Staff employees, and guest, may accept if the Speaker gives written
permission.

Reason: Since XYZ, Inc. is not a lobbyist or client, the state ban on gifts from
lobbyists does not apply. Instead, the City’s gift rules govern, as interpreted by
the Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB). The COIB allows public servants to
accept complimentary invitations to holiday parties and other “public affairs,”
even if their value is in excess of the normal $50 gift limit.

EXAMPLE 3: Louis Loss, a businessman, obtains invitations to the XYZ, Inc.

party, and offers them for free to Council employees.

=> Council employees may not accept.

Reason: The complimentary offer is not coming from the sponsoring

organization.

EXAMPLE 4: Peter Profit, a businessman, obtains an extra invitation to the

XYZ, Inc. party, and offers it for free to Jane Jones, a Council employee who is
also his best friend since second grade.

=> Jones may accept. But Jones should not accept if Loss has a matter currently
pending before her Committee.
 Holiday Parties - Examples

Reason: The gift prohibition exempts gifts from long-standing friends and close
relatives, so long as the gifts are not intended to influence the recipient’s official
conduct, and could not reasonably be perceived that way.

EXAMPLE 5: Carolyn Smith, a Council employee, used to work at Contractors,

Inc., a small private company that has a contract with a City agency. Contractors,
Inc. has no business dealings with the City Council. Contractors, Inc. invites
Carolyn back to its annual holiday party.

=> Carolyn may accept.

Reason: Since the entity has no business dealings with the Council, a Council
employee may accept the invitation so long as it comes from the sponsoring
entity.

Note: If Contractors, Inc. hires a lobbyist, Carolyn may not attend (because state
law prohibits clients of lobbyists from giving gifts to public servants).

EXAMPLE 6: ABC Museum is a non-profit cultural institution that is also

registered as a City lobbyist. It offers complimentary tickets to its annual Open
House, inviting all Council employees, their spouses or partners, and their
families.

=> Council Members and their families may accept.

=> Council aides and their families may accept if their Members authorize it.
=> Central Staff employees and their families may accept if the Speaker gives
written permission.

Reason: The state law prohibition on lobbyist invitations does not apply if the
party or event is a “charitable event” (like a charitable fundraiser), a “political
event” (like a political fundraiser), or a “widely attended” event. The Open
House is a “charitable event” because one of its purposes is to display how public
funds are being spent at the institution. It is also “widely attended” in the eyes of
the state law, because its purpose is cultural or educational, and is not solely for
the recreation of the attendees.

Since state law does not prohibit the complimentary invitation, the City’s gift law
governs. And, the COIB has determined that public servants may accept such
invitations. Note that since the institution is a museum, and thus family-oriented
by nature, the public servant may bring his or her family. (If the event were a
black-tie dinner fundraiser, it would still be appropriate for the public servant to
bring a guest, but not his or her entire brood of children.)

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