Advisory Concerning Gifts Accepted on Behalf of the City

Executive Summary

As a general rule, gifts accepted on behalf of the City must be reported to the Board of Ethics (BOE) and the City’s Comptroller, and those reports are publicly available. Pursuant to a long-running, unwritten arrangement dating back to the administration of Mayor Eugene Sawyer, gifts accepted by the Mayor’s Office on behalf of the City were not reported in this way, but rather were to be logged in a book which would be available for public viewing on the Fifth Floor of City Hall.

OIG visited the Fifth Floor in a covert capacity and asked to see this logbook; that request was denied and undercover OIG personnel were directed to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the log. OIG did so, again in a covert capacity; the Mayor’s Office failed to timely respond, constituting a denial of the FOIA request. Thereafter, OIG sent an official document request for the log, and received a spreadsheet detailing gifts accepted by the Mayor’s Office on behalf of the City. The log identified many of those gifts—including Hugo Boss cufflinks; Givenchy, Gucci, and Kate Spade handbags; a personalized Mont Blanc pen; and size 14 men’s shoes—as being stored in a “Gift Room,” and others in the Mayor’s personal office in City Hall. OIG subsequently visited the Fifth Floor to conduct an unannounced inspection of the Gift Room, and was denied access.

OIG recommended that the Mayor’s Office comply with the generally applicable rules for public reporting of gifts accepted on behalf of the City, and that the Gift Room be made available for announced or unannounced inspection by OIG. In its response, the Mayor’s Office indicates that it would allow OIG access to the Gift Room, but only with “a properly scheduled appointment.” Their response further attaches a letter from BOE in which BOE “concurs” with OIG’s recommendation on public reporting; the Mayor’s Office says it will “work closely with [BOE] to transition to this new guidance.”