By 
One of the critical ways in which the public sector differs from the private sector is in the rules regarding the receipt of gifts. In the private sector, it is common practice to send customers, prospects, and those who refer business to you as a token of their appreciation for doing business with your company. This common private sector practice, however, can spell trouble in the public sector. Most state laws prohibit receiving gifts in exchange for official action (we call that a bribe), but ethical dilemmas extend to casual gifts that are not in exchange for official action.
Take the example of a company that sends a box of oranges to the head of a state agency at Christmas with a note that says, “Thank you for all your hard work for the people of our state.” Suppose this company has not done business with this agency. Is it unethical for the head of the agency to accept the oranges? Here are some questions to consider if you were the head of the agency:
1. Does state law allow receiving the gift? In Idaho, state law allows the receipt of incidental gifts up to $50.00 in value. The oranges are unlikely to cost more than $50.00, so you conclude that state law does not prohibit you from accepting them.
2. Does your particular agency have rules about receiving gifts? Some agencies go beyond the minimum limitations of the statute and prohibit the receipt of gifts. Suppose that in this case there is no agency-specific rule.
If your state law allows it and there are no specific agency rules that prohibit it, you can assume that it is ethical to accept the oranges and technically you would be correct. Here are a few other things, however, to consider, specifically the “gift equation.”
First, remember that you only control one third of the “gift equation”: you know what the gift means to you. You are confident that receiving this gift will not affect your decision-making in your official capacity. After all, who would be “bought” by a crate of oranges, right? What it doesn’t control, however, are the other two-thirds of the “gift equation”: what giving the gift meant to the giver and how it is viewed by the public. For all he knows, the orange crate donor is sitting at a restaurant counter in his community telling his business associates that, “the next time a contract comes up with your agency, he’ll be ‘taken,'” because now it’s your good thanks. Also, he doesn’t know what the gift receipt will look like to the public in his community. What might be “technically legal” may seem inappropriate to the public. The appearance of impropriety is a fundamental part of ethics in the public sector. It is a constant reminder that public sector officials are held to a higher standard.
The “gift equation” reminds us that we only control a third of the situation regarding the acceptance of gifts in the public sector: what the gift means to us. What the donor thinks he is receiving and how the public sees it is out of our control.