IEC Journal

"Preparing for a very rainy day" presentation from OGE Conference

Download preparing_for_a_very_rainy_day.ppt

Ethics challenges for Emergency Planners and Ethics Officials.

Ex-Director to pay back Smithsonian

W. Richard West Jr., who retired last year as founding director of the National Museum of the American Indian, has agreed to reimburse the Smithsonian $9,700 for payments that he should not have received, said Smithsonian's Inspector General.  Other expenses might have to be reported to the IRS as income on his tax returns.  See the full story at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102803407.html

November 14th Meeting

As the final part of our "transition" series, our Friday, November 14^th meeting will feature a panel on “Presidential Transition – Ethics Issues.”  Our panelists will be David Apol, Office of the United States Trade Representative, Sandy Mabry, Office of Government Ethics, and Robert Shapiro, Department of Labor.  As we approach the end of the current administration and the beginning of the next, we are sure that you will find our panel’s presentation to be of value.

 

Please note that meeting represents a departure from our usual first Thursday of the month meeting day.  As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium at the corner of 

17th and G Streets, N.W.

  Individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend this meeting can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, November 10th.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted to our meeting site by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

Employee's removal for violation of last chance agreement upheld

VA employee was removed for misusing his government computer--sending obsene images.  The case was settled with a last chance agreement, which waived his rights to appeal as well as reinstated his removal if he engaged in inappropriate conduct.  Employee was later removed for inappropriate conduct, including inappropriate comments to and about female co-workers.

See opinion at http://www.fedsmith.com/articles/records/file/Melendez%2008-3207-1.pdf

Hatch Act Complaints Rise

The Washington Post's Federal Diary discusses the increase in complaints about Hatch Act violations.

Sen. Stevens found Guilty of 7 Counts

Senator Stevens of Alaska was found guilty on seven counts related to his failure to report gifts and renovations to his home totalling more than $250,000 on his financial disclosure forms. 

See articles:

• NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/washington/28stevens.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

• Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/27/AR2008102700289.html

HHS, NIH, Nat'l Cancer Instit. Director, Office of Ethics vancancy (GS 15)

 

The Office of Ethics, Office of Management, Office of the Director, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), invites applications for the Director, Office of Ethics, GS-601-15.  The NCI is the principal arm of the Federal government with responsibility for cancer research and for carrying out the National Cancer Program.  The NCI conducts biomedical research in its own facilities, directs research carried out under contracts and provides grant support of research and training in non-federal institutions in the United States and abroad.  The Office of Ethics administers a comprehensive ethics program that reflects statutory responsibility and integrity to the public and trains, advises, and enables employees and managers on the application of conflict of interest statutes, standards of ethical conduct, regulations and NIH policy.  This position serves as the Director, Office of Ethics and is responsible for the planning, implementation and evaluation of the Ethic Office’s programs and initiatives; supervising professional/administrative staff; and providing expert advisory services to the Director, NCI, and other senior NCI leadership on a comprehensive program of ethics and standards of conduct. 

 

The individual selected for this position must have: 1) expert knowledge of ethics statutes and standard of conducts regulations as well as related administrative or procurement statutes, regulations, case law implementation, policies and procedures as they related to a biomedical research environment; 2) knowledge base of the current state of biomedical research sufficient to exercise sound judgment to plan, coordinate and direct an ethics and standard of conduct program of national significance; 3) demonstrated experience communicating clearly and effectively both in writing and orally about scientific issues and to establish and maintain effective collaborative relationships with other scientists; and, 4) demonstrated experience providing supervisory leadership and mentoring to other professional staff.

Salary is commensurate with experience and a full Civil Service package of benefits (including retirement, health, life and long-term care insurance, Thrift Savings Plan participation, etc.) is available.  The NCI vacancy announcement for these positions contains complete application procedures and lists all mandatory information that must be submitted with the application. To obtain the vacancy announcements for this position, see announcement number NCI-09-305099 at http://usajobs.opm.gov/. Applications must be received by December 2, 2008.

NCI, NIH and DHHS are Equal Opportunity Employers.

Treasury Senior Counsel for Ethics vacancy (GS-13/15)

The U.S. Department of the Treasury, Departmental Offices, has an opening for an Attorney-Advisor (Senior Counsel for Ethics).  It is announcement number 09-DO-010P on USAJOBS.  The vacancy closes on Thursday, October 30, 2008.  See http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/getjob.asp?JobID=76727802&aid=74686961-18108&WT.mc_n=MKT000125

GovExec article: Preparing for the Transition: Mars & Venus

Advise for career executives on successfully courting political appointees.  See full article at http://www.govexec.com/story_page_pf.cfm?articleid=41239&printerfriendlyvers=1

Executive Order to Smooth Transition

President Bush Signs Executive Order Intended To Smooth Transition

October 14, 2008

President Bush has signed an Executive Order intended to smooth the transition for the next Administration. The order, signed last Thursday, establishes a Presidential Transition Coordinating Council, which is charged with assisting the major party candidates and the President-elect by making "every reasonable effort to facilitate the transition between administrations." Under the Executive Order, the Council is to "provide appropriate information and assistance to the major party candidates on an equal basis and without regard to party affiliation."

The Executive Order provides for the President's Chief of Staff, Josh Bolten, to serve as Council Chair. The Council also will include the Counsel to the President, the Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, and a number of others.

Read the Executive Order, titled "Facilitation of a Presidential Transition."

Sen. Stevens testifies at trial on corruption

There are several articles today on Senator Stevens' (Alaska) testimony at his trial on corruption relationed charges and failure to disclose gifts (valued over $250,000) on his financial disclosure reports.  Most notably the gifts came in the form of renovations to his Alaskan cabin.  However, one particular gift of interest was a Shiatsu massage lounger (valued in excess of $2,000) which he testified he would not accept as a gift but which remained in his home at the request of the donor.  See articles at:

• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/20/AR2008102002545_pf.html
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/20/AR2008102002318_pf.html

US Special Counsel Block to Resign in January 09

Scott J. Bloch, the embattled U.S. special counsel whose tenure has brought national attention to his once-obscure agency, said yesterday that he will resign in January instead of staying on until a replacement can take over.  See full article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/20/AR2008102003561_pf.html

Timely Hatch Act Reminder

Mark Stone, Chief, Government Ethics Law, HQ AFMC/JAA, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, recently arranged to have a Hatch Act reminder appear on the screen of every computer at Wright-Patterson AFB each time the computer starts up. With Mark's permission, here is the slide show and a plain text version of the message. You may need to update your PowerPoint software to view the latter:

Download political_activity_for_wpafb_popups.pptx

Download slide_on_political_activity_for_wpafb_screensavers_30_sep_08.ppt (Plain text).

GovExec article: Preparing for the Transition: Dos and Don'ts

This four-part series on preparing for the presidential transition is the result of surveys and interviews conducted by Alan Balutis, a former federal executive with more than 30 years of government experience.  See full article at http://www.govexec.com/story_page_pf.cfm?articleid=41188&printerfriendlyvers=1.

Safavian re-indicted

A former top Bush administration procurement official faces a fresh set of charges for allegedly lying to federal officials and obstructing an investigation into his relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.  See full article at http://www.govexec.com/story_page_pf.cfm?articleid=41180&printerfriendlyvers=1

Fed employee plead guilty to misuse of Gov. credit card

A now-suspended federal employee said Thursday that he and a former exotic dancer-nude model racked up more than $280,000 in fake charges on a government-issued credit card.  See full article at http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/D533EB80CD770F70862574DE000FA2F6?OpenDocument

Presentation Materials for Vacancy Act presentation - Oct. 8

Handouts:

• Memorandum Download info_memovacancies_reform_actgeneralfinal_oct_08.doc
• NARA Bulletin 2008-02 http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/bulletins/2008/2008-02.html?template=print
• NARA Resource: Documenting Your Public Service: http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/publications/documenting-your-public-service.html?template=print
• OLC Guidance on Application of Vacancies Reform Act of 1998: http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/finalqa.htm

Presentation: Download iec_brief_on_vrafinal_oct_08.ppt

Seven Tips for Surviving the Transition

While not expressly focusing on standards of conduct issues, many of the tips in this Government Executive article are relevant to ethics officers.

Wednesday October 8th Meeting

This is a reminder that this week's meeting will be on Wednesday, October 8th, a departure from our usual practice of meeting on Thursday.

Please note that next month's meeting will also be a departure from our usual practice, taking place on Friday, November 14th.

Postal employee undermines public trust in USPS

Postal employee goes to jail for selling drugs on his postal route.  AUSA discusses how this conviction undermines public trust.  See http://www.beavertonvalleytimes.com/news/print_story.php?story_id=122290631631246400

Ethics Training Storytelling Resources

Danielle Mozzetta's "Train the Trainer" program was one of the more effective sessions at the recent OGE conference. She stressed the importance of "storytelling" (i.e., providing real examples) as a way of increasing student retention, giving rise to the question, "But what if you don't know any relevant stories to tell the audience?"

Two good sources of instructional ethics examples are:

1. The Department of Defense Standards of Conduct Office's "Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure," acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal and others, and
2. This web site. We routinely link to news accounts of ethical transgressions. Our archives are searchable via by topics using our "Categories" system, linked at the left of every page or by key words using our search engine box in the upper right hand corner of every page.

Incidentally, note that the current search engine results page has advertisements inserted by the company that provides this service. We do not receive any revenue from them. We hope to install a search engine without ads in the not too distant future, but for the time being, this is the best we can do with our limited budget (basically, zero $). 

Mark Stone Paper on Conference Issues

Mark Stone, the Chief of Government Ethics at the HQ Air Force Materiel Command Legal Office, regularly distributes useful ethics material, most recently a 10-page "Information Paper on Conferences." Though originally drafted with Air Force audiences in mind, much of it applies just as well to other agencies:

1. To get on Mark's e-mail mailing list, contact him at mark --- DOT --- stone --- AT --- WPAFB --- dot --- AF --- dot --- MIL.
2. Visit http://afmcethics.wpafb.af.mil to request access to the secured web site where these materials are archived.

IG Reform Act Sent to White House

On September 27, the Inspector General Report Act of 2008 (H.R. 928) received final passage and was cleared for White House action.  This legislation provides that  each IG shall be appointed without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations.  The President would be required to communicate in writing to Congress the reasons for any removal or transfer of an IG not later than 30 days before that action.  Each IG would receive legal advice from a counsel reporting directly to the IG or another IG.  The Council on Integrity and Efficiency would be established as an independent entity within the Executive Branch. 

Added by IEC Team: The Project for Government Oversight provided their assessment of the legislation. They review the history of the bill and indicate a Presidential "signing statement" is expected.

OGE Calendar: October

Reminder: The October IEC meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 8, rather than the usual first Thursday.

Excerpt from the 2008 OGE Calendar:

October 31 The Public Financial Disclosure reports of PAS, DAEO, and other persons whose Public Financial Disclosure reports are required to be forwarded to OGE for review and certification who were granted second 45-day extensions are due today.