Opinion 89-18

February 24, 1989

Topic:          Judge’s participation as a bus boy at a fundraising supper held by fraternal organization.

Digest:         A judge's participation as a bus boy clearing tables after a fraternal organization's fundraising supper does not constitute prohibited     fundraising activity.

Rule:            22 NYCRR §100.5(b)(2)

Opinion:

         A town justice is a member of a fraternal organization which conducts annual fundraising suppers for the maintenance of its meeting hall. The judge has been requested to participate as a “bus boy” in clearing tables and cleaning up after the supper. He is not an officer or trustee of the organization and will perform no other activities at the supper other than as a bus boy. He inquires whether this activity constitutes fundraising in violation of section 100.5(b)(2) of the Rules of the Chief Administrator.

Section 100.5(b)(2) of the Rules of the Chief Administrator provides, in part, that a judge shall not solicit funds for any educational, religious, charitable, fraternal or civic association or use or permit the prestige of the office of that purpose. Here, the judge states his function at the fundraising dinner is solely as a clean-up person and involves no solicitation of funds, directly or indirectly, and no other function that would reflect adversely on the prestige of the judiciary or capitalize on his position as town justice.

         Accordingly, the judge's participation as a bus boy does not constitute a prohibited fundraising activity under section 100.5(b)(2).\