Opinion backs ‘Boot' ban

LINCOLN — The controversy over the “Fill the Boot” campaign is still kicking.

A new legal opinion reaffirms the view that it is an improper use of government resources for Omaha firefighters to solicit funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association while on duty.

The practice had prompted the Omaha City Council in December to forbid city workers from soliciting donations while on the clock.

The debate will flare anew this Friday before the state Accountability and Disclosure Commission, which issued a draft legal opinion backing up the council's opinion that state law bars such on-the-job solicitations.

An official with the Muscular Dystrophy Association said accepting such an opinion would open a Pandora's box that could disqualify the city from taking donations for United Way and bar the Omaha Police Department from its annual Christmas gift certificate give-away for homeless kids. Other suburban fire departments, paid and volunteer, also pass the boot for MDA.

“I think it will have a tremendous impact, and I think it will impact multiple organizations,” said Jim Owen, director of business development for MDA in nine north-central states. “It's a crying shame. It's heartbreaking.”

The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission will decide whether to accept, modify or reject the legal opinion.

Owen said if the commission does not reject it, his organization will seek a change in state law to allow the work-time solicitations.

A lawsuit over the city ordinance was also a possibility, he hinted, although such a lawsuit would be filed by an individual, not his organization.

During the Fill the Boot campaign, Omaha firefighters collect donations in firefighters' boots during parades and other events. A state law change last year also allowed them to resume solicitations at street intersections while traffic is stopped for a red light.

Owen said the fundraiser nets about $100,000 a year for MDA. He said firefighters pass their boots during “idle” hours on their 24-hour shifts.

“They don't shirk their duties or responsibilities to the city or taxpayers to go fill the boot for Jerry's Kids,” he said, adding they might be able to respond quicker to emergencies because they are in uniform and their firetrucks are parked nearby.

Owen blamed politics — the City Council's fight with firefighters over benefits — for the ban on such solicitations, noting that the long-running Fill the Boot campaign had not drawn city objections before.

But council member Jean Stothert said the issue was only about using taxpayer resources to solicit funds for private organizations. That's wrong, she said, even if it's a worthy cause like muscular dystrophy.

“We don't think that's a good use of taxpayer dollars, especially in this economy,” Stothert said.

Firefighters, she said, are still free to solicit such donations on their own time, as volunteers. Stothert said 99 percent of the e-mails she received on the issue backed up her view.

She said the city attorney has advised the council that the solicitation for United Way is different because it involves only city employees and because the United Way, through its support of things like services for the homeless, helps the city accomplish its mission.

The “Shop With the Cop” program, though, may have to be altered to comply with the council's recent ordinance.

In that program, police officers give children a gift certificate — funded by the police foundation — and a ride to a shopping center to shop for Christmas gifts.

Stothert said police would not be able to use police cruisers for that trip any longer.

She said public officials have to be very careful about using government resources for private uses.

“When I'm at work, I use a cell phone when I need to get a haircut,” Stothert said.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com

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