Patrick's gifts probably violated ethics rules

Yesterday, after legislators agreed to approve pension reform, Governor Deval Patrick sent House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo a box of cigars and Senate President Therese Murray some flowers.

Nice, right? You can bet the cigars weren't White Owls purchased at a nearby CVS, and the flowers weren't carnations grabbed from a street vendor. One senator, not exactly schooled in the floral arts, described the elegant bouquet as "expensive ones, not like $20 or $50 ones, but designer ones."

In fact, they were so nice, sitting in a fancy vase, that they became a topic of conversation when the Senate held a closed-door caucus to discuss ethics reform in Murray's office, with the flowers on display nearby.

Well, nice but for one nagging fact: They probably violated state ethics rules, which ban gifts of $50 or more to a public official in return for an official action. They certainly violated a key tenet of the proposed ethics overhaul Patrick is trying to push through the Legislature: an outright ban on gifts of any kind to public officials.

Last night, when a reporter inquired about the gifts, officials and their various spokespeople kicked into damage control.

Patrick aides argued a technicality, that since the gifts were to the offices of the House speaker and Senate president and not to them individually, no ethics laws were violated.

In fact, Patrick aides released one statement saying they would not "comment on personal gestures made by the governor," then decided to do just that, releasing the following statement from administration spokesman Joseph Landolfi:

"Governor Patrick values both his professional and personal relationship with Speaker DeLeo and Senate President Murray. And he wanted to acknowledge the magnitude of the pension reform legislation that was enacted by both the House and the Senate."

The gifts were made after months of wrangling between the state's top Democrats and a day after Murray snubbed the governor at a State House press conference, mentioning everyone standing beside her except the governor.

Murray declined to comment last night. Seth Gitell, a spokesman for DeLeo, said: "Of course the speaker appreciates the governor's gesture."

All indications were that he would do the only logical thing with the gift: smoke them.

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.