Complaint Opinion 03-06

​The complaint alleges that legislative employees used their legislative computers to send and receive personal e-mails in violation of Legislative Ethics Board Rule 3.

​The Board concluded the alleged use did not violate the limited personal use permitted by Rule 3.  However, legislative staff should not presume their personal e-mails sent or received on state equipment are private or protected by the Ethics Act.  In this case the e-mails may be viewed as office gossip between friends - no facts alleged or discovered which show that frequency or duration of e-mails negatively impacted productivity. Dismissed for lack of reasonable cause.