Prestige of Office Provisions

Some jurisdictions have an ethics provision entitled Prestige of Office that, among other things, limits work that officials can do outside of government. Here is the language that the Baltimore school district uses (this is essentially the same as the city government's Prestige of Office provision, but with the addition of the phrase "public position," which turns it into a basic misuse of office provision):

An official may not intentionally use the prestige of office or public position for the private gain of that official or the private gain of another.

It's certainly a conflict of interest problem when prestige of office is used to make money through public speaking or advertising ("The Pickup Your Mayor Prefers!"). But these situations can be handled by honararium and endorsement provisions. When a Prestige of Office provision is applied to related work done on the side, as it has been in the Baltimore school district, the issue is moonlighting.

I don't think that ethics programs should regulate moonlighting. I think this is a personnel matter. It is a resource issue more than it is a conflict of interest issue. Permission be sought from the superintendent or a designee. Perhaps, for aggregate annual work over a certain number of hours or certain amount of income, school board permission should be sought. In any event, it's worth looking at how a Baltimore prestige of office matter was handled.

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