OPA: Law on campaign donations inconsistent

Civil servants making campaign contributions to political candidates may be unwittingly violating the law, with the statute providing two inconsistent rules regarding this act.

Public auditor Michael Sablan said yesterday that the Civil Service Commission has yet to come out with a categorical interpretation of provisions on the ability of a civil service employee to accept or make voluntary contributions to a political organization.

Section 8142(b) of the Civil Service Act states: “Any person in the civil service may make voluntary contributions to a political organization for its general expenditures.”

However, section 8145(3) of the same act states: “No public official or employee shall directly or indirectly hand over to any other official or employee any money or other things of value on account of or to be applied to the promotion of any political objective whatsoever.”

In an interview, Sablan maintained that the apparent contradiction within the law is a greater concern today, with the enactment of the Election Reform Law of 2000. The law requires candidates to disclose the names of their supporters who have made at least $100 in total contributions over the course of the campaign.

He added that the issue is for the commission to address, as it concerns civil service employees. OPA, he said, could only interpret provisions in the Government Ethics Act.

However, in the course of giving presentations on the Ethics Act, OPA is routinely asked about section 8145, which he said appears to suggest that civil servants may not contribute directly to any political campaign, Sablan said.

“We have done our own analysis of civil service in other jurisdictions and we’ve found that several jurisdictions have clear laws prohibiting civil servants from making any campaign contributions,” Sablan said, noting that civil service is a merit-based system and is not supposed to be influenced by politics.

“But I don’t want to provide incorrect advice to civil service employees that may cost them their jobs. That’s why we request the commission to advise the civil service employees in plain English whether or not they are allowed make political contributions.”

Records show that OPA has been trying to get the commission’s interpretation since September 2002.

On July 29, 2003, CSC legal counsel John Cool wrote: “The Commission interprets the provision as prohibiting public officials and public employees from paying political contributions to other public officials and public employees, and prohibiting public officials and public employees from soliciting political contributions from other public officials and public employees.”

Sablan then wrote two separate letters asking Cool to provide his opinion simply and clearly—in a statement “written for the civil servants to read, not by the lawyers.”

Cool replied on Sept. 9, 2004, “[A] civil service employee may make contributions to a political organization for its general expenditures, but may not make the contribution directly to a public official or public employee.”