Mississippi Advisory Opinions February 17, 2017: AGO 2017-00039 (February 17, 2017)

Advisory Opinion Text

AUTH: Beebe Garrard

RQNM: Lawrence Hahn

SUBJ: Elections - Managers, Clerks, Bailiff, Special, General and Primary

SBCD: 69-A

TEXT: Lawrence E. Hahn, Esq.

Post Office Drawer 948

Columbia, Mississippi 39429

Re: City of Columbia

Dear Mr. Hahn:

Attorney General Jim Hood has received your opinion request and has assigned it to me for research and reply.

Facts

According to your request, the City Clerk of Columbia was hired and appointed to her present position on May 1, 2006. You state that the City Clerk’s son, who has been a police officer with the City of Columbia Police Department since October 7, 2008, has qualified to run for Mayor of Columbia in the upcoming municipal elections. You further provide that the City Clerk’s son is married, financially independent and does not live with her. You then ask two questions:

1. Is the City Clerk prohibited from performing any of her official duties with respect to the municipal elections being held this year due to her son qualifying to run for the office of Mayor?

2. Should the City Clerk’s son be elected as Mayor for the City, is she prohibited from continuing in her capacity as City Clerk should she be so reappointed by the newly elected Board of Aldermen for the City?

Response

We find no prohibitions in the election laws against a City Clerk performing her statutory election duties due to her son qualifying to run for the office of Mayor. Further, the nepotism laws do not prohibit the City Clerk continuing in her capacity as City Clerk if her son is elected as Mayor.

Legal Analysis and Discussion

Miss. Code Ann. Section 25-1-53 provides, in relevant part:

It shall be unlawful for any person elected, appointed or selected in any manner whatsoever to any state, county, district or municipal office, or for any board of trustees of any state institution, to appoint or employ, as an officer, clerk, stenographer, deputy or assistant who is to be paid out of the public funds, any person related by blood or marriage within the third degree, computed by the rule of the civil law, to the person or any member of the board of trustees having the authority to make such appointment or contract such employment as employer. This section shall not apply to any employee who shall have been in said department or institution prior to the time his or her kinsman, within the third degree, became the head of said department or institution or member of said board of trustees.

In accordance with the above cited statute, the nepotism statute does not apply to the scenario outlined in your request. Additionally, we refer you to the Mississippi Ethics Commission regarding any potential conflicts of interest or questions of ethics.

If we may be of further service, please let us know.

Very truly yours,

JIM HOOD, ATTORNEY GENERAL

Beebe Garrard, Special Assistant Attorney General