You’d think there would be a tighter lid on gift-giving in state departments, seven years since John “Why Should I Resign If I’ve Done Nothing Wrong?” Rowland was under the gun for accepting that hot tub from a subordinate; those gifts from the Tomasso Group state contractors; and Key Air of Oxford, which provided Rowland with luxury charter flights to Las Vegas and Florida. It was the contractor work and the charters that landed him in federal prison for 10 months. According to testimony this morning from Carol Carson, executive director of the Office of State Ethics, subordinates can still give their bosses gifts up to $1,000 in value for so-called life events, plus an unlimited number of gifts worth $99.99 or less, as many times during a year as the employee wants. Under legislation before the Government Administration & Elections Commission, the “life-event” gifts would not be affected, but the $99.99 gratuities would be limited to one per year.
The whole thing provides an aromatic taint to the process of job advancement in the Capitol, doesn’t it?