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To: Springfield Reformer; wtc911; filbert; perfect_rovian_storm
[...] section AS 39.52.910, which spells out that the Ethics Act only applies to a state officer, not a former state officer, unless under a specific exemption (carve-out), such as the one in AS 39.52.250.

SR, am I understanding you correctly that you're claiming that a person violating the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act chapter suddenly has that behavior disappear as a violation once he leaves office?

Isn't Sec. 39.52.250 (which applies to former public officers) a parallel to Sec. 39.52.240(g), without implying that violations that occured while in office are exempt once leaving office? The carve-out would be redundant otherwise, wouldn't it?

287 posted on 07/10/2011 2:46:56 PM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: Gondring

Gondring, you are not stating the problem correctly. No, I am not asserting violations vanish on exit from office. I have no idea why you would say that. I am saying that a violation not discovered during the term of office falls outside the rule of applicability, and unless it is chargeable under an explicit exception to the applicability rule, or is chargeable under some external law, such as federal criminal law, then the opportunity to complain about that violation is lost. Just like you can only be caught speeding while driving. You can be ticketed later, but you can’t be “caught” later. You know this is true.

As for your question about AS 39.52.240, I think you misread the relationship it has with AS 39.52.250. Section 240 is, to use a software analogy, reusable code. Section 910 establishes the default behavior that the code will apply only to current officers, and excludes former officers, unless an explicit exception is made. Section 240 is how advisory opinion logic would work for current officers, and sits properly under the rule of 910. Whereas 250 is the carve-out for former officers that must be stated per 910, but if you look close it points back to 240 as the guide to how advisory opinions should work for former officers. The “programmer” is just reusing the code. There is no “parallelism,” as you put it.

Therefore, the carve-out in 250 still stands as the explicit exception that proves explicit exceptions are required to be stated. The complementary principle then must be true, that all provisions of the Ethics Act not so modified by exception must refer only to current public officers, including the discovery provision in the statute of limitations.


456 posted on 07/10/2011 10:42:36 PM PDT by Springfield Reformer (Winston Churchill: No Peace Till Victory!)
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