At the end of the event, each panelist was offered a Starbucks gift card by the event organizers.
Rick gave his Starbucks gift card to me, saying, "since I'm here as a public official I can't accept this. Otherwise it would be counted as a bribe."
Wild.
He could have refused the gift. But not sure what California’s rule is, but I expect that accepting nominal gifts under a low dollar threshold is allowed.
* seem ethical by not "accepting" gift
* give the worthless gift away and make the recipient be in your debt
That seems really high to me and seems that it’s completely legal for this official to get $500 from each applicant, given that it’s done in a deniable manner.
It’s $50 for a federal employee [1].
[0] https://www.fppc.ca.gov/content/dam/fppc/NS-Documents/TAD/Pu...
[1] https://ask.fedweek.com/federal-government-policies/rules-gi...