bhne --
The answer to your general question depends on the campaign finance
laws of each of the 50 states, so I am assuming that your
clarification indicates that you would be satisfied for an answer that
applies to the Governor of Massachusetts.
That answer, which applies to all elected and appointed officials and
employess of Massachusetts is that they are free to make contributions
to the political campaigns for any office. Here is the text of the
relevant Massachusetts statute:
"Chapter 55: Section 15 Political contributions by public officers or
employees restricted; penalties
"Section 15. No officer, clerk or other person in the service of the
commonwealth or of any county, city or town shall, directly or
indirectly, give or deliver to an officer, clerk or person in said
service, or to any councillor, member of the general court, alderman,
councilman or commissioner, any money or other valuable thing on
account of, or to be applied to, the promotion of any political object
whatever.
"Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent any officer,
clerk or other person in the public service of the commonwealth, or of
any county, city, or town from making a contribution to a candidate or
to an elected or nonelected political committee.
"Violation of any provision of this section shall be punished by a
fine of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars."
Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 55, Section 15.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/55-15.htm
Here now is a link to the Campaign Finance Guide for Public Employees,
Public Resources and Political Activity, which is published by the
Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:
Massachusetts: OCPF: Campaign Finance Guide
http://www.mass.gov/ocpf/guides/pubemp103.pdf
(This is a PDF file which requires Adobe Reader to access. In the
unlikely event that this program is not installed on your computer, a
convenient free download is available here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html )
This Guide (at page 8) puts the answer in a little plainer English, as follows:
"Section 15 prohibits bribes or any "quid pro quo' payments to public
officials, but allows all elected and appointed public officials of
the Commonwealth, a county or a city of town, to make political
contributions to any candidate or political committee."
Search Strategy:
I began with a Google search using the following search terms:
massachusetts "political contributions" "by elected officials"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=massachusetts+%22political+contributions%22+%22by+elected+officials%22
This led me to the Campaign Guide linked and quoted above. I then
performed this simple Google search:
massachusetts general laws
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=massachusetts+general+laws
This led me to the online compilation of those laws. I used the
site's search function to go directly to the relevant chapter and
section that I have quoted above.
Based on your clarification, I am confident that this is the
information you are seeking, and I am happy to have been able to
provide it to you promptly. If anything is unclear, please ask for
clarification before rating the answer.
markj-ga |
