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![handle is hein.sag/sagsc8989 and id is 1 raw text is:
ALAN WILSON
At Ioi EVt (ii nAJanuary 5, 2016
Chairman Linda A. Wooten
Board of Trustees for Lexington School District Two
715 Ninth Street
West Columbia. South Carolina 29169
ear Chairman Woolen:
You have requested the opinion of this Office as to whether a conflict of interest would
arise if an individual is serving in the capacity of both an elected SC School Board member
and as an assistant or head coach of a spors team of the same district. You proxide that the
individual at issue is willing to do that job without receiving an, pay or stipend for the work
and use an assistant basketball coach as an example of the position under scrutiny.
You have also asked whether a conflict of interest would arise if an individual serving in
the capacity of an elected SC School Board member has also volunteer[edJ to help a coach on
one of the district's sports teams. You provide that this individual has -no position of authority,
control or responsibility lor any of the district's students or staff hats] no ongoing delegated
responsibilities, and serve[s] only at-will and if available. You use an individual who helps
keep time/stats Bfor the track team. etc:' as an example of the position in question in this
instance. Our analysis follows.
Law/Analvsis
In many prior opinions of this Office. we have explained the master-servant problem
that can result in creating a conflict of interest. As stated in an August 13. 2014 opinion
[a] master-servant conflict is a specific type of conflict based on the common law
principle that where one office is subordinate to the other. and subject in some
degree to the superAsory power held by the other office, a single individual
should not hold both positions. .S.C. Att' , Gen, 2014 WL 2120887 (April
25. 2014); O At C en., 1986 WL 289867 (Jne 25, 1986) (citing 67
C.J.S. Officers § 27). Indeed. our Supreme Court, in McMahan \. Jones. 94 S.C.
362. 77 S. 1022 (1913) affirmed this principle stating:
No man in the public service should be permitted to occupy the
dual position of master and servant: for, as master, he w\ould be
under the temptation of exacting too little o' himself, as servant;
and as servant, he would be inclined to demand too much of
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