The text
The purpose of this chapter is to prescribe specific standards to guide public officers and employees in the conduct of their offices and employments, and to prescribe improper conduct to the extent to which such conduct may be sufficiently described to enable prohibition against it to be properly enforced. It is at the same time recognized that under a free government it is both necessary and desirable that all citizens should have certain specific interests in the decisions of government and that the activities and conduct of public officers and employees should not be unduly circumscribed.
(Code 1971, § 2-47)