CORRECTION: An Internet link to a list of state employees that Verizon Business says it gave gifts to incorrectly suggested inappropriate behavior by those on the list. The list, provided by Verizon Business, is part of an ongoing probe into whether any state employee accepted the gifts or meals in violation of state law.
Gov. Beverly Perdue signed an order Thursday banning all employees in her administration from accepting food or gifts from companies doing business with the state, even if the employees aren't directly responsible for administering government contracts.
The move comes after reports that the SBI is investigating whether employees at the state Division of Motor Vehicles and Division of Air Quality broke the law in accepting meals and gifts on more than 200 occasions from Verizon Business. The company holds a $51.5 million no-bid contract providing computers and data services to the state's vehicle inspections program.
While the State Government Ethics Act already forbids accepting gifts from firms that do business with the government, the law applies only to elected officials and high-ranking appointees such as cabinet secretaries and department heads. Other state laws make it a crime for employees who administer contracts to accept gifts from the companies involved, punishable by up to 45 days in jail.
Before Perdue signed the executive order Thursday, however, state employees who don't directly administer contracts weren't covered. Some of the DMV employees who received meals from Verizon Business did not oversee its contract with the state.
"That situation with DMV was troubling to the governor and certainly she felt the need to make it very clear to all state employees that this kind of behavior won't be tolerated, and make it very clear what her expectations are -- and, frankly, what the expectations of the people of North Carolina are," Chrissy Pearson, Perdue's spokeswoman, said Thursday.
Pearson said Perdue will ask legislators to expand the gift ban to employees of agencies outside the control of the governor, such as the Departments of Agriculture, Labor and Insurance, which are run by independently elected officials. Perdue also mandated that state employees receive additional ethics training.
Probe under way
The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer disclosed Saturday that the SBI is probing the relationship between DMV employees and Verizon staff. The investigation is also examining why the state paid Verizon for hundreds of expensive computers that have not yet been accounted for.
On Tuesday, DMV released records provided by Verizon that listed more than three dozen state employees who enjoyed the company's hospitality, accepting a total of $21,800 in steak dinners, spa treatments, hockey tickets and other treats. The company also picked up the tab for spouses, boyfriends and girlfriends of the employees.
Verizon provided those records to DMV a month ago, and the SBI investigation was launched quickly after.
Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger, of Eden, applauded Perdue's move. He suggested extending to state employees a law that requires elected officials convicted of corruption to forfeit their state retirement.
Two of the administrators who received gifts from Verizon retired May 1, after questions were raised about whether they accepted $900 worth of tickets to Perdue's inaugural ball in January.
Berger said 99.9 percent of state employees follow the law, but the state has now seen a succession of embarrassing episodes of misconduct. He attributed at least part of that problem to decades of Democratic control of the legislature and the governor's office.
"When you have the same crowd in control for so long," Berger said, "you end up with that entrenched mentality that folks cut corners and don't think about things they need to be thinking about."
Jane Pinsky, director of the watchdog group N.C. Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform, said the DMV scandal highlighted the fact that the state didn't have a clear line for employees on the propriety of accepting gifts.
"It's probably an area where the citizens of North Carolina get really angry," Pinsky said. "They think they're paying state employees a salary and they shouldn't be getting gifts to do their job and getting gifts to benefit themselves."
Other states
Perdue's move appears to make the state's gift ban one of the nation's more restrictive. Other states have varying restrictions on gifts to elected and appointed officials, as well as legislative employees. Some states ban gifts to state employees if the gift is intended to influence a decision.
At least six other states, Connecticut, Illinois, Montana, Kansas, Maryland and Washington, appear to impose a flat ban on gifts to all state employees, according to data compiled by the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform and the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Pinsky said Perdue's order will make state employees and those who work with them think twice before giving or receiving presents. "It's a sad statement that I can't bring banana bread to a state employee who helped me with a problem," she said. "But people have abused the system."
