Friday, January 11, 2008

Official Misconduct

With all this recall talk, I thought it be a good idea to find out how the state of Montana defines official misconduct.

45-7-401. Official misconduct. (1) A public servant commits the offense of official misconduct when in his official capacity he commits any of the following acts:
(a) purposely or negligently fails to perform any mandatory duty as required by law or by a court of competent jurisdiction;
(b) knowingly performs an act in his official capacity which he knows is forbidden by law;
(c) with the purpose to obtain advantage for himself or another, performs an act in excess of his lawful authority;
(d) solicits or knowingly accepts for the performance of any act a fee or reward which he knows is not authorized by law; or
(e) knowingly conducts a meeting of a public agency in violation of 2-3-203.

I'm not an attorney, but reading through it, I don't think recalling these officials is going to be as easy as some may think. Which is a good thing. If it were,I can only imagine how many officials would be chucked out of office and government would effectively cease to exist.

No comments: