Opinion ID: 199256
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Intent to Influence Official Action

Text: 59 The conduct described in the PPR evinces Sawyer's intent to enter a scheme to deprive the public of the honest services of various Massachusetts legislators by influencing those legislators in their official actions. Over the course of more than nine years, Sawyer intentionally provided over 25 Massachusetts legislators with gifts totaling approximately $35,000. According to the PPR, these gifts included hotel rooms, expensive dinners for legislators and their spouses, rounds of golf at luxury resorts and at Sawyer's private country club, and tickets to theater and sporting events. Almost one-quarter of these expenditures, about $8,500, were used to entertain Representative Francis Woodward during the five years he served as House Chair for the Insurance Committee. Woodward's position on that committee gave him the opportunity to affect Hancock's interests in pending legislation. More significantly, paragraph 25 of the PPR states, [Woodward] 'carried' most of the legislation sought by Hancock and other life insurance companies during his tenure as House Chair, shepherding the bills through the Insurance Committee and the full House of Representatives. The evidence further indicated that Sawyer's gratuities to Woodward and other legislators virtually ceased after those representatives left office. Finally, Sawyer took credit, in memoranda he wrote to his supervisors at Hancock, for the passage or defeat of legislation affecting Hancock's interests in the insurance industry. Therefore, Sawyer understood that his conduct affected, at least in part, the actions taken by the legislators he entertained. These facts point to a conclusion that Sawyer intended for the legislators to be influenced by his expenditures. 60 As part of his defense at his trial, Sawyer contended that he thought these expenditures were lawful and merely a part of goodwill entertaining. See Sawyer, 85 F.3d at 731. However, evidence described in the PPR reveals his awareness of the gift and gratuity laws and his understanding that he might be violating those statutes. In his office, Sawyer kept binder notebooks with information about the Massachusetts laws proscribing gifts to public officials under certain circumstances. While violations of those laws need not be proven for there to be a sufficient factual basis for his guilty plea, they provide evidence of his intent with respect to the expenditures and cast doubt on his claim that he believed the expenses were lawful. 61 Moreover, aside from any obligations Sawyer and Massachusetts legislators may have had under state law, public officials also have fiduciary duties under common law to ensure that the public receives their honest service free of improper influence of corruption. We have described § 1341 in this manner, without reference to any ethical obligations arising under state law, in other rulings. See, e.g., Woodward, 149 F.3d at 58 (noting that Woodward's acceptance of expenditures from Sawyer constituted theft of the honest services that Woodward owed to his constituents); Sawyer, 85 F.3d at 730 (stating that § 1341 requires, in connection with the gratuity, the intent to cause an official to deviate from the honest performance of services.).