Yeah there’s literally a question about accepting a gift like this from a contractor in our HR ethics training module and the answer is *OBVIOUSLY NOT*
Like the exact “gratuity” situation is well known to businesses who do public/private work, and it’s just universally considered to be—at best—clearly unethical.
County Commissioners who handle local zoning matters are going to make a boatload of money off the developers under this Roberts Court decision. Everyday residents are going to get screwed.
If I had a nickel for every time our HR ethics training module mentions asking a lawyer before you offer any sort of amenity to a government employee due to the "strict regulations," I would probably have enough to buy a House member
Right. I've seen the same 2 actors for years go through this exact scenario in my HR training and the answer is she's not allowed to accept the necklace even if it's after the contract decision's been made.
maybe it's now legal for US elected officials but I bet it's still illegal if you're a US business to provide gratuity to a foreign government official for signing a contract. We have laws about this!
Kavanaugh et al., seem to think it’s just basic politeness. Now I can’t help but picture him like “why don’t I ever get one of them edible arrangibles from the United States Solicitor General”?
I worked for a health insurance a few years back. Business lunches were customary EXCEPT in my department because we health exclusively with municipal governments. Literal day one, I was told to never ever ever pay because of ethics rules. This is not hard.
The whole line indicating that some poor schlub in office might stumble into doing a bribery unwittingly is so fucking ludicrous that it could only have come from a court Clarence Thomas sits on.
The manual for how to deal with gifts to government officials is literally one word and it's "don't."
I do an ethics questionnaire every year. Mostly, just don't take stuff from people trying to influence you. Even buying someone a coffee can be an issue. Anything over $25 is questionable most of the time and something that would be otherwise difficult to get - no question => Unethical.
I consulted at District government offices and we weren't allowed to send people *flowers*. Since words can apparently mean anything, I'm happy to accept the majority's resignations. That's what what they wrote in their opinion really means, right?
Healthcare, we could NOT accept anything valued over $50. Not sure if it was an individual policy or nationwide. Never had to worry because I was never offered anything other than thanks.
FWIW I couldn't even remember patients or their families' faces or names who would thank us for what we did.
My graduate advisor wrote a book about patronage and corruption in 17th century England.
It’s been a long time since I read it, but I think that this might just be true originalism at work.
