IEC Journal

Washington Post's New High-Tech Who's Who In Government

Does your job ever require you to find out information about government officials? Help may be on the way.

WhoRunsGov.com is a new Washington Post foray into Internet publishing that could help ethics officers perform factual research. The site intends to provide in-depth biographical information about key government officials. It includes a blog, and in the future will operate as a moderated Wiki:

This initial beta version of the site allows users to discuss officials’ policy profiles. A range of additional interactive and collaborative capabilities will be added when the site expands to become a moderated wiki later this year. 

At this later date, users will be invited to submit suggested additions and revisions to the text of specific profiles based on reputable published sources or authoritative information. To ensure accuracy and reliability of the site’s information, the editorial team will review each submission before it is published.

If they are successful in attracting the right kind of public contributor, the moderated Wiki feature could give this web site a level of detail and accuracy no paper publication can match.

Misuse of computer is more than just ethics problem.

A report says that agency employees at the National Science Foundation were watching, downloading and e-mailing porn, sometimes for significant portions of their workdays, and over periods of months or even years. The ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee wants to put an end to the waste of time and money.  See full article at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18070.html

More Abramoff Fallout

An AP story indicates:

The government says Todd Boulanger gave government aides "a stream of things of value," including all-expense-paid travel, tickets to professional sports and concerts and nights out at expensive restaurants, to reward and influence actions that would benefit his clients. He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Talking Points Memo has an archive of posts about the newest person being charged, Todd Boulanger.

Ethics Reminder Through Security Tip?

At least one federal agency provides employees a daily security tip when users log onto the computer network. If your IT deparment is agreeable, this can serve as an alternate delivery mechanism for ethics reminders, as demonstrated by this file.

Early Waiver of Obama Revolving Door Rule

The Obama administration's decision to waive its new lobbyist restrictions so former Raytheon lobbyist William J. Lynn could receive an appointment as Deputy Secretary of Defense is proving to be controversial. Washington Wire, an online component of the Wall Street Journal, has an item about the move:

Sen. John McCain, who lost to Obama in the November election, was less than happy with the waiver. “I am disappointed in President Obama’s decision to waive the ‘revolving door’ provisions of the executive order for Mr. Bill Lynn,” McCain said in a statement. “While I applaud the president’s action to implement new, more stringent ethical rules, I had hoped he would not find it necessary to waive them so soon.”

Another example was POGO, which was not happy, either.

Respect for IG Concept Grows

Senator Grassley (R-IA) recently introduced the “Judicial Transparency and Ethics Enhancement Act of 2009” (S. 220), which would create an office of inspector general for the Judiciary.  Coming along with the enhanced authorities in the IG Reform Act of 2008, and the creation of IGs for Iraq, Afghanistan and the TARP financial bailout, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Congressional respect for the IG concept is increasing.

Executive Order: Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel

The White House web site has Obama's new Executive Order on revolving door, gift and Hatch Act issues. A Washington Post story contains this brief summary:

The lobbying rules announced yesterday aim to end what has become a way of life in Washington, where those serving in an administration collect chits that are quickly cashed in once they depart government. Under the new rules, presidential appointees who leave office will not be allowed to lobby any federal agency as long as Obama remains in office.

"It's not about advantaging yourself. It's not about advancing your friends or your corporate clients. It's not about advancing an ideological agenda or the special interests of any organization," Obama told Cabinet members and senior staff at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. "Public service is, simply and absolutely, about advancing the interests of Americans."

Metadata - What Is It and What Are My Ethical Duties?

Jim Calloway's article entitle Metadata - What Is It and What Are My Ethical Duties? has more information on a legal ethics topic covered in a previous IEC meeting.

High Ethics Standards Help Recruiting

In the Washington Post, Joe Davidson reported on a study showing the federal government is high on many students' lists of preferred employer. One factor that helps some agencies and hurts others:

"Undergrads place great store in high ethical standards."

New Pentagon Rule Slows Revolving Door

Government Executive reports:

Pentagon officials who participate in costly acquisitions now will need written approval from an agency ethics officer before taking a job with a Defense Department contractor.

The interim rule in the Jan. 15 issue of the Federal Register, attempts to slow the revolving door between government and private industry. It was among a blitz of new regulations published on Thursday by DoD and other government agencies, responding primarily to legislation passed by Congress in the fiscal 2008 and 2009 Defense authorization measures.

Among the most significant rules is a regulation barring Pentagon officials who have "participated personally and substantially in a DoD acquisition exceeding $10 million or who [have] held a key acquisition position" from accepting a job with a defense contractor without first obtaining a written opinion from a Defense ethics counselor. The counselor will determine which, if any, activities the official can perform on behalf of the contractor for the first two years after the official leaves government.

No Ordinary Abuse

We try to give a low priority to stories of garden variety abuses by government employees, because they tend to give a misleading impression of a workforce that is overwhelmingly honest and competent. However, an IEC member sent us a link to one story of such audacious misconduct as to make it an instructional example that will hold an audience's attention:

Federal prosecutors say a Kansas City man and woman used a government computer at the US Department of Agriculture in Kansas City to run two online prostitution businesses. The web sites were called USA Honies and Darc Phoenix.

Edited Jan. 22 to correct typo.

February 5th Meeting & 2009 Planning Session

At our February 5th meeting we are pleased to have as our featured speaker, Mark Wilkoff the Navy’s Assistant General Counsel (Acquisition Integrity) and Director of the Acquisition Integrity Office, who will present a program on acquisition and procurement fraud.  As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium.  Our meeting will be followed by a brief planning session to set the IEC agenda for the balance of 2009.  All are welcome to attend this session.  Please plan to stay and contribute your thoughts on the subjects that you’d like the IEC to address in upcoming meetings.  As always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for the February 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, February 2nd. Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

Richardson Nomination Highlights Vetting Difficulty

Professor Paul Light, an occasional contributor to the Washington Post, on issues during the Presidential transition, highlights the now-withdrawn nomination of Bill Richardson to be Commerce Secretary as an example of the difficulty in vetting nominees to high positions. He calls for increased civil service employees in the vetting process:

Vetters must pore over the information, reading and cross-checking reams of data. This is no small task, especially amid the pressure to fill jobs quickly. The Obama team has set its heart on breaking the record for filling top jobs in the shortest time, but now it has been reminded that speed is often the enemy of thoroughness.

The number of senior-level political jobs has expanded by a fifth since 2001, and as Obama rightly works on rebuilding the civil service ranks at the lower levels of government, he should consider expanding his own personnel process to handle the load.

Revised Slides for January Presentation (Answers)

Here is a link to the revised version of the slides for the recent presentation by Peggy Love and Steve Csontos on the topic "Seeking Employment and Post Employment Obligations for Government Attorneys Entering the Private Sector":

Download Seeking-Post Employment for Attorneys- IEC Meeting 109 (3) 

This version contains the answers to the hypotheticals.

IRS attorney vacancy (GS-14)

The IRS Chief Counsel's office is seeking an attorney for its Ethics and General Government Law branch. The closing date is Thursday, February 05, 2009.  For more information, please see the announcement at: http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/ftva.asp?seeker=1&JobID=78678746.

Hawaiian Conference Has Lost Luster

In this morning's Washington Post, Al Kamen notes that government official attendance is down this year at the "legendary annual conference of the American Association of Airport Executives in Hawaii ... the aviation event of the year, now wrapping up at the lovely Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel in Kona." The professionally cynical Kamen adds "Well, maybe next year, when all this ethics stuff dies down."

Edited Jan. 17 to correct grammatical error.

Ethics in the News!

• A former local federal employee who used his government credit card to steal more than $250,000 was sentenced to two years in prison today, the U.S. Attorney's office said.
  See full article at http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday%5Cnews%5Cstories.nsf&docid=D16A59F26AE6874C8625753D006244A2.
• Hillary Rodham Clinton confirmation hearing goes smoothly, even with discussion of appearance of a conflict of interest.  See full article at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gFBkJNEs-XzAOmjfMTn19T-Bg14gD95MU6402.

More On Political Influence at DOJ

An Associated Press story discusses a new Department of Justice report that criticizes one particular official for politicizing that agency:

The investigation, conducted [by the Inspector General] with the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility, found that Schlozman did not tell the truth to Congress when he told Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., in a June 2007 hearing that he did not consider political affiliations in hiring.

Citing the "troubling conduct" described in the report, Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said the agency has since reformed its hiring practices. "We are confident that the institutional problems identified in today's report no longer exist and will not recur," Carr said.

Using Government Employees To Benefit Private Business

From the Boston Globe:

Several US marshals and a lawyer for the federal agency violated ethics regulations by assigning deputy marshals to escort Fox Sports broadcasters to and from sporting events, including two games of the 2007 World Series in Boston, according to a report released yesterday by US Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

The IG report is available at the DOJ web site.

IT Department Blocking Access to IEC Journal?

One IEC member reports:

Beginning a couple weeks ago, my government computer no longer lets me visit the IEC website.  When I try to do so, my computer says:  “You are explicitly denied access to this website "http://www.iecjournal.org/" per local base policy..  Your request was denied because of its content categorization:  Blogs/Personal Pages.”   The good news is that I can still access the site from home.

Another IEC member had the same problem a few years ago. Some unsophisticated automated screening software occasionally identifies the IEC Journal as inappropriate for use on government computers. Similar automated software could also erroneously erase IEC Journal RSS feed e-mail echoes as spam. If you draw either type of error to the attention of a human being in your organization's IT department, they will usually correct the mistake rapidly. If they don't, you should raise the problem to their supervisor.

Of course, IEC members who have been improperly blocked won't be able to read this message, so please draw this solution to the attention of any colleagues you know who have been having problems.

Kempthorne Reviews Interior Ethics Reforms

In his "last formal speech" as Secretary of the Interior, Dick Kempthorne reviewed ethics reforms during his tenure:

Kempthorne said he's installed a new ethics officer, has stressed the importance of recording discussions on potentially dicey matters in an ethics logbook, made an ethics DVD required viewing for new employees and fired employees involved in the worst of the transgressions.

"Without question, there have been a variety of issues concerning the integrity and activities of certain aspects of the Department," Kempthorne, Idaho's governor from 1999 to 2006 and Boise's mayor for eight years starting in 1985, told more than 200 people at a City Club speech.

"We have endeavored to create an atmosphere and culture of ethics in the department, which is critically important," he said. "I tell them, 'My mantra is, if in doubt, don't.'"

Qualifying the Latest Hatch Act Interpretation

Via Mark Stone, here are a couple of useful observations from Paul Davison about the OSC's recent Hatch Act interpretation previously reported here:

1.  This does not affect the Agency’s authority to prevent situations which may be disruptive in the workplace, even if wearing or displaying a particular item doesn’t violate the Hatch Act.
 
2.  If an item which displays a picture of Senators Obama or McCain (or otherwise indicates support of them) also references a political party, such as the Democrats or Republicans,  wear of that item still violates the Hatch Act.  It is always a violation to wear or display an item supporting or opposing a political party.

Revised Slides for January Presentation

Here is a link to the revised version of the slides for the recent presentation by Peggy Love and Steve Csontos on the topic "Seeking Employment and Post Employment Obligations for Government Attorneys Entering the Private Sector":

Download Seeking-Post Employment for Attorneys- IEC Meeting 109 (2)

Most of the changes are minor, but note that Slide #37 entitled "Resources" references an OGE Advisory Opinion which has been changed. The link above incorporates the correction.

OGE Calendar of Important Ethics Dates 2009

The “2009 Schedule of Important Ethics Dates” is now available for you to view and/or print. You may access the schedule thru the U.S. Office of Government Ethics website at: http://www.usoge.gov/ethics_docs/misc_docs/odcaldrpts.pdf.   

 

The schedule will help you keep track of deadlines related to public and confidential financial disclosure, training and 1353 travel reports.

Watchdog Concerns for 2009

An ABC News story describes the current key concerns of government watchdog groups. A sample:

The enormous spending expected next year makes more openness and protection for whistleblowers a necessity, said Tom Devine of the Government Accountability Project. "It's a necessity for President Obama to honor the commitments of Candidate Obama to enact whistleblower protection rights" for both public and private workers, he said.

Office of Government Ethics, Program Analyst vacancy (GS 11/12)

The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is seeking a Program Analyst to join a team of dedicated professionals in the Office of International Assistance and Governance Initiatives. The position entails serving as a primary resource in the administration of OGE’s international technical assistance and good governance programs. Major duties include: planning, organizing and conducting ethics briefings for large, diverse groups of foreign delegations to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE); supporting the Deputy and Assistant Directors in OGE's participation in activities that meet U.S. obligations under international agreements and to international organizations; providing support to the Deputy and Associate Directors in planning and organizing OGE-directed international technical assistance programs; coordinating OGE responses to requests for information from outside entities regarding international ethics and anticorruption matters; collecting data on and preparing written analyses of anticorruption, ethics and good governance programs and agreements from around the world; maintaining records and documents related to OGE's international contacts and activities by developing and maintaining computer databases to track and summarize OGE's international activities; and identifying and pursuing collaborative good governance programs with other Federal agencies having complementary missions and with state and local entities that are responsible for ensuring accountability and promoting public confidence in government.

Applications must be receiv

ed by Friday, Jan. 16, 2009. 

To obtain the full vacancy announcement for this position, see announcement number 09-OGE-004P at http://usajobs.opm.gov/

RSS to E-mail Services

We sometimes are asked if our failure to endorse the RSS feed-to-e-mail services mentioned at left is intended to discourage people from using them. We merely want to make sure everyone understands that these are independent services operated by third party businesses. If you find them more convenient than using an RSS reader or checking the web site every day, feel free to use them, but be aware that the IEC has no control over them, and is not responsible for any lapses in service. We provide information about them solely for the benefit of our users who do not use RSS readers and find it more convenient to receive updates by e-mail.

Reminder: Meeting Thursday, Jan. 8

This month's IEC meeting will be held Thursday at the usual location. The handouts are available for printing out before the meeting.

USDA Newsletter

The USDA's December Ethics Newsletter is hot off the press and available for viewing!  (If the link doesn't work for you, please go to www.usda-ethics.net and click on "December 2008 Newsletter."  As always the 8-page newsletter is filled with helpful ethics information.  Thanks to Mike Edwards for letting us know about its availability!

Washington Post RSS Reader Review

A Washington Post article reviewed four RSS readers (sometimes referred to as "aggregators."  This popular type of software makes it easy to keep up with web sites  that have "RSS feeds."  This site's feed is located under the hypertext link "This Site's RSS Feed" at left.