IEC Journal

IRS ethics official 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 May 18, 2009.  For more information, please see the announcement at: http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/ftva.asp?seeker=1&JobID=80711827.

Say It Ain't So, Al!

In this morning's Washington Post In the Loop column Al Kamen refers to "the 1978 amendments to the Ethics in Government Act that created the time-consuming, redundant financial disclosure process" as a factor in the deplorably slow rate of Presidential appointee confirmations.

Upgrade of Customized OGE Search Engine

Paul Bergstrand has refined the customized Google search engine he created to facilitate searches of the OGE web site. The revised version allows users to restrict searches to the Advisory Opinion and DAEOgram directories. Paul deserves a lot of credit for his initiative in creating and upgrading this very useful resource.

The link in the right margin entitled "Custom Search OGE Web Site" goes directly to Paul's creation.

E-mail Echo Problems?

A few IEC members have reported problems receiving posts by e-mail, like this:

I would like to receive posts by e-mail. However, when I went to RssFwd to register, the web site stated it was closing down. Please advise how to receive information re your newsletter, meeting announcement, etc.

We've posted some troubleshooting tips over the past couple of years, and they should be accessible by looking through the archives of the "About" category in the left hand margin. The easiest solution may be to subscribe to a different free service. We have had good results with Feedblitz, which we have found to be reliable and technically superior in some ways to comparable free services.

The IEC does not control any of these free third party services, and has no control over their performance. With that understood, many members have found them very convenient.

If you would prefer to access IEC Journal information unfiltered by a third party, an RSS reader is an attractive alternative. It seems like every day more important web sites offer RSS feeds, with the most notable recent one being Recovery.gov. Check out the very top of the page on the right hand side. Our article How To Use RSS Feeds has tips on adopting this useful new tool.

OSC Charges Two With Sending Politial Advocacy E-mails

An Office of Special Counsel press release describes misuse of e-mail charges against two federal employees, as follows:

One employee, while on duty, at work and using his official title, disseminated an e-mail that requested political contributions for then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama. The other employee, while at work and on duty, distributed an e-mail that encouraged recipients, including employees she managed, not to support then-Presidential candidate Obama.

Thanks to the ever-alert Mark Stone (registration required) for the tip.

May 7th Meeting

Our May 7th meeting will feature Erica Dornburg, of the the DoD Standards of Conduct Office and Cheryl Kane Piasecki, of OGE, who will present an overview of the Public Financial Disclosure Report (SF-278) review process.   With most of us beginning to review SF-278 filings for CY 2008 and the deadline for these reports just a week after our May meeting, we can expect this presentation to be timely as well as informative.  Erica will be sharing with us some of the tricks of the trade, common problems confronting the reviewer, new financial instruments that you may encounter in the course of your review, where to obtain information helpful to your review, and best practices from an agency perspective.  Cheryl will address what OGE expects by way of conflicts reviews and technical sufficiency, and will be discussing the basics of process, itself – filing cycles, timely submission to OGE, timely response to requests for additional information, etc.  You won’t want to miss this session. 

 

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium at 1700 G Street, NW, and, as always, 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 can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, May 4th.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

CLE: Conflicts of Interest, Gifts and Lobbyists

The Capitol Hill Chapter of the Federal Bar Associationis hosting a May 29 program two-hour Professional Responsibility Symposium for Government attorneys on “Conflicts of Interest, Gifts, and Lobbyists” at the Library of Congress. Their web site has details (scroll down) and a registration form.

CLE: Ethics and the Government Lawyer

The DC Bar Association will host a June 23 CLE program on the topic "Ethics and the Government Lawyer 2009: Hot Topics and Issues."

Here is the course description:

Credit: 3.0 Ethics Credit Hours

Description: In recent years, media and public attention have sharply focused on the ethics of prosecutors and government attorneys. The traditional reluctance to subject government attorneys to bar discipline is evaporating nationwide, making it more important than ever to know what the Rules of Professional Conduct require… even though they often fit imperfectly with the special circumstances of government practice. This up-to-date class will help you sharpen your ethical analysis skills and increase your sensitivity to lurking ethical problems. You will examine recent legal ethics developments as they apply to government practice, using interactive hypothetical scenarios and discussions of current cases. 

Location

D.C. Bar Conference Center
1101 K Street NW
(Metro Center)
Washington DC 20005

Contact

CLE Program 202-626-3488

Speakers

Jack Marshall, ProEthics

CLE Credit

Yes

Cost

Administrative Law and Agency Practice Section $89.00
Corporation, Finance and Securities Law Section $89.00
Courts Lawyers & Administration of Justice Section $89.00
Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Section $89.00
Labor and Employment Law Section $89.00
Litigation Section $89.00
Government Attorneys $89.00
DC Bar Member $99.00
Others $129.00

National Procurement Fraud Task Force (NPFTF)

The National Procurement Fraud Task Force (NPFTF) has information of interest to ethics lawyers, including press releases. It's hosted by the Department of Justice.

Refreshments at Conferences

It's not unusual for ethics officers to be asked questions about fiscal law restrictions on the use of appropriated funds for various purposes, including the purchase of  refreshments for conference attendees. Managers accustomed to private sector practices sometimes don't understand that government rules are more restrictive. Fortunately, there has been some liberalization of the rules in recent years, as demonstrated by this 2005 GAO opinion, and cases cited in a related 2007 DOJ OLC opinion.

Edited April 19 to improve clarity.

IEC April 9th Presentation

Attached please find the slide presentation from the April 9, 2009, IEC meeting. Download Contractors in the Federal Workplace IEC 3-09

DOD Policy on Ethics Pledge & Holdovers

Thanks to Paul Bergstrand for alerting us to a Government Executive story about the Department of Defense's application of the Obama ethics pledge to Bush Administration holdovers. A senior DOD official explained in an April 7 e-mail to them:

Those who choose not to sign the ethics pledge and leave before April 30, 2009 (or those who choose to sign the pledge and are replaced after April 30, 2009), will be asked to submit their resignations, and the department will treat their separations as involuntary.

All Things Whistleblower

The Government Accountability Project's All Things Whistleblower provides detailed information about whistleblower issues. Like most blogs, it provides an RSS feed, making it easy to keep track of new developments. If you are not yet using an RSS reader, the RSS-to-E-mail conversion services many use to monitor the IEC Journal will work equally well for All Things Whistleblower.

DOJ Green Lights Electronic Records Concept

A Department of Justice OLC opinion that approves the general concept of electronic records may provide a boost to efforts to convert ethics filing to electronic processes. DOJ's summary of the opinion follows:

Federal official personnel and civil service retirement records that have been converted from paper to electronic format should be admissible in evidence in federal court under the Business Records Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1732, and should also qualify as "public records" admissible under Rule 1005 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Electronic versions of particular personnel records which, pursuant to statute or regulation, must be notarized, certified, signed, or witnessed, may be authenticated under Rules 901 and 902 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Converting such documents to electronic format should not affect their admissibility under hearsay rules.

While this opinion does not alleviate all concerns about legal issues in electronic filing, it should relieve some fears about moving forward.

Ethics Program Assistant vacancy (GS 6/7) at US Geological Survey

There is currently an opening for a GS 6/7 Ethics Program Assistant in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Ethics Office located in Reston, VA.  The position is open to the public as well as to status candidates.  The successful candidate will provide technical and administrative assistance to the Ethics Program, manage the financial disclosure/training database, file ethics opinions (in paper and electronic formats), prepare reports, and keep records of contributions of travel expenses from non-Federal entities, gifts, grants, and requests to engage in outside work.

The vacancy closes on April 21, 2009.  Here is a direct link to the announcement:
http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/getjob.asp?JobID=80227898&AVSDM=2009%2D04%2D01+00%3A03%

More OLC Opinions Available

Over the past few months, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel has publicly released a number of previously-issued opinions.  Here are just a few that appear to have implications for ethics officials:

ETHICS ISSUES RAISED BY THE RETENTION AND USE OF FLIGHT PRIVILEGES BY EMPLOYEES OF THE FAA (August 30, 2004) (added 12/19/08)

APPLICATION OF 18 U.S.C. § 207 TO FORMER CIA OFFICIALS’ COMMUNICATIONS WITH CIA EMPLOYEES ON DETAIL TO OTHER AGENCIES (October 23, 2007) (added 09/23/08)

OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS JURISDICTION OVER THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION (February 28, 2009) 

REMINDER: April 9 Meeting

The guest speaker at the Thursday, April 9 meeting will be Steve Epstein, formerly of the DoD Standards of Conduct Office, now the Ethics and Compliance Leader for the PricewaterhouseCoopers Federal Practice.  Steve will speak on the topic, "Contractors in the Workplace: Things Your Employees Are Not Telling You."  Pat Carney's March 23 post has more information.

VACANCY AT ODNI FOR ETHICS PARALEGAL (GS-12/13)

There is currently an opening for a GS 12/13 Ethics Paralegal in the Office of General Counsel at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in Northern Virginia. The Ethics Paralegal is a key member of the Ethics team who works with the other ethics officials to create and maintain the ODNI ethics program and ensure its compliance with federal ethics laws. The vacancy closes April 30, 2009. A direct link to the announcement can be found below:

http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/ftva.asp?seeker=1&JobID=80276357

Dangers of Endorsing Product

A post at the excellent Project for Government Oversight blog reports on allegations that "a video in which 'Air Force pilots rhapsodize about the fastest, stealthiest, most advanced dogfighter ever built' " could be a violation of 5 C.F.R. § 2635.702, "Use of public office for private gain":

An employee shall not use his public office for his own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity, including nonprofit organizations of which the employee is an officer or member, and persons with whom the employee has or seeks employment or business relations.

Edited April 10 to fix typo.

Effects of Stevens Reversal

A Washington Post article suggests that the decision to request dismissal of charges against former Senator Ted Stevens could lead to changes at the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section:

Holder's decision invites tough new scrutiny of a unit that polices corrupt officials, and it could foreshadow a shakeup in the way the government prosecutes those crimes, according to lawyers who work on such cases.

Current and former department lawyers predict an overhaul that will sweep aside senior leaders in the Public Integrity Section, two of whom were cited for contempt of court by the Stevens trial judge. That ruling triggered an internal ethics probe that has produced an awkward situation in which prosecutors and FBI agents who worked side by side on the case are pointing fingers at each other, sources said.

The Public Integrity Section in recent years has lagged in personnel and investigative firepower, veterans of the office say. Its work has produced acquittals and second-guessing from judges, which may intensify after the Stevens debacle.

Not receiving IEC email notices?

Some of the previously identified RSS list serve operations have ceased to work due to upgrades or other problems.  If you find that you are no longer receiving notifications of IEC postings, try re-registering through your existing RSS service or try another service.  We understand that www.feedblitz.com (requires creating an account, confirm accounts, subscribing to IEC, and confirming subscription) works.  If you have better solutions, please share with us. 

Failure to Pay Taxes

Federal employee failure to pay taxes is a standards of conduct violation with major public relations implications. This report from Washington-area radio station WTOP is typical:

The Internal Revenue Service is trying to collect billions of dollars in unpaid taxes from nearly half a million federal employees. According to IRS records, 171,549 current federal workers did not voluntarily pay their federal income taxes in 2007. The same is true for 37,752 active duty military and nearly 200,000 retired civilian and military personnel.

Documents obtained by WTOP through the Freedom of Information Act show 449,531 federal employees and retirees did not pay their taxes for a total of $3,586,784,725 in taxes owed last year.

Each year the IRS tracks the voluntary compliance rate of all federal workers and retirees. The percentage of employees and retirees who are delinquent has gone up and down over the past five years, but the amount unpaid has increased each year topping $3.5 billion for the first time in 2007.