State clarifies stance on use of aircraft
The Commission on Public Integrity just issued an updated opinion on appropriate use of state aircraft, four months after its initial recommendations in response to the Troopergate/Spitzergate scandal. Aides to Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer were found to have compiled and released information, with help from the state police, about Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s use of aircraft in an attempt to damage the Rensselaer County Republican’s reputation.

The documents released by Spitzer’s staffers highlighted a few occasions last spring during which Bruno attended GOP fundraisers on the days he used a state helicopter. The practice was not in violation of ethics laws at the time, but the Commission on Public Integrity’s predecessor agency, the Ethics Commission, said officials should reimburse the state for parts of their trips that are not government business assuming that there is a bona fide state purpose for the travel.

The commission issued an updated advisory opinion today in response to a request from Spitzer for some clarifications. The commission decided the following:

1-A state official will not be required to reimburse the state for incidental personal time or the time between government meetings.

2-Reimbursement is not required for time spent on non-state business, such as eating, sleeping or being with family, during multi-day trips provided other standards of the opinion are met.

3-Reimbursement is required for the staff of public officials who attend political events, unless they are required as part of their official duties to accompany the public official, such as security personnel.

4-The state official must take steps to ensure that the state is correctly reimbursed for the use of state resources for non-state purposes and must seek guidance from authorities that regulate the use of campaign funds if seeking to reimburse from campaign funds.

5-If the aircraft is used for one way of a trip, the official is to look to the cost that would be charged by a private charter company for a comparable one-way trip.

6-The unavailability of other modes of transportation is not relevant to the determination of whether reimbursement is necessary when the official using state aircraft attends political events during the trip.