IEC Journal

Shelby's STOCK Act

GovExec article discusses the implications of Congressman Shelby's amendments to the STOCK Act, introduced to address concerns about Congressmen not being covered by insider trading laws.  Under the amendment the impact has been expanded to try to cover many Executive Branch personnel.  As currently contemplated, the law could require:

• Electronic availability of Public Financial Disclosure report
• Posting of all stock trades of certain personnel, where the transaction exceeds $1,000, for all or some financial disclosure filers

See full article at http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2012/02/momentum-builds-require-feds-disclose-stock-trades/41092/.

For details about the various STOCK Act versions, see http://insidertrading.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004520.

Interesting article on Congress' Insider Trading Bill

If you missed it, the Senate overwhelmingly (96-3) passed the bill that would impose insider training restrictions on lawmakers this week.  The House is expected to take it up next week.  Interestingly, attached conflicting amendments would further impose this on certain Executive Branch employees.  See Associated Press article at http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/03/house-ready-to-consider-insider-trading-ban/.

Ethics Related News (Int'l)

• India's anti-corruption hero sees popularity fade.  http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16020/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=EZoU2u9v
• Ex-Israeli leader Olmert accused of seeking bribes.  http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16020/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=L96tbXjy

Govt attorney pleads guilty to conflict of interest

Consumer Products Safety Commission attorney plead guilty to a conflict of interest violation and filing false statements on his "ethics forms."  The charges stem from his claim to have “Insider Knowledge” in advertising his private law practice and his failure to disclose this outside business on his disclsoure reports.  He also represented a private client before the Federal Government.

Read the full DOJ press release, see http://www.justice.gov/usao/md/Public-Affairs/press_releases/press08/GovernmentLawyerGuiltyofConflictofInterestandFilingFalseDisclosureForms.html.

The removal appeal of the employee implicated in US v. POGO is remanded

Consequences of United States v. Project on Government Oversight, 525 F.Supp.2d, 161, 164 (D.D.C. 2007).  The Dept. of Interior employee, Robert Berman received notice of his proposed removal for misuse of public office for personal gain.  The Federal Circuit suspended its review of the case pending the outcome of the DC Circuit case on whether he violated 18 USC 209 by accepting an award from POGO.  Since that case was remanded for a new jury verdict, so was the personnel removal case. 

See Berman v. Department of the Interior, C.A.F.C. No. 2010-3052 (nonprecedential) (Nov. 7, 2011) at http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/images/stories/opinions-orders/10-3052.pdf.

Read related article at: http://www.fedsmith.com/articles/articles_display.php?a=3183&p=1

"Financial Conflicts of Interest In and Out of Government" by Kathleen Clark

Several people have requested information related to Kathleen Clark's presentation at the September 2011 OGE Conference.  The article she wrote is published as "Financial Conflicts of Interest In and Out of Government" in the Washington University in St. Louis Legal Studies Research Paper No. 11-02-03.  See http://law.wustl.edu/faculty_profiles/pages.aspx?id=223.

Ethics related news items

Please see the following news items which are related to ethics:

• Farm Credit Administration Federal Register publication of its policy statement on ethics. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-11-17/pdf/2011-29687.pdf
• Project on Goverment Oversight (POGO) articles
  • Follow up article on SEC ethics problems. http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2011/11/watchdog-report-confirms-that-sec-employees-destroyed-records-and-misled-national-archives.html#tp 
  • Follow up article on Senior Mentors at the Dept. of Defense.  See http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2011/11/98-percent-of-former-military-officers-drop-out-of-pentagon-program-after-financial-disclosure-.html
  • Morning Smoke: Big Banks Promise, Repeatedly, Not to Break SEC Rules. http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2011/11/morning-smoke-big-banks-promise-repeatedly-not-to-break-sec-rules.html

Presidential Executive Order: PROMOTING EFFICIENT SPENDING

On Nov. 9, 2011, the President signed an executive order to promote efficient spending in the Executive Branch.  See EO at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/09/executive-order-promoting-efficient-spending.  The EO is part of the Campaign to Cut Waste, and coincided with the announcement of the 2011 SAVE Award finalist.  See WH press release: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/09/we-cant-wait-president-obama-sign-executive-order-cut-waste-and-promote-.

Within 45 days, agencies must develop plans to reduce combined costs in the following areas to 20 percent below Fiscal Year 2010 levels by Fiscal Year 2013.

1. Reduce Spending on Travel and Conferences.
2. Cut Duplicative and Unnecessary Employee Information Technology Devices
3. End Unnecessary Printing and Put It Online
4. Limit Motor Vehicles
5. Stop Swag – or Government Promotional Handouts

News of Interest

The following articles may be of interest for our followers:

• Federal Computer Weekly reports on a new procurement requirement from DHS which requires that contractors working at DHS identify themselves as contractors during contract performance/agency interactions.  See http://fcw.com/blogs/acquisitive-mind/2011/10/dhs-contractor-announcement-firstsource-ii.aspx?sc_lang=en.  For DHS contract requirement, see H.7 of https://www.fbo.gov/download/84d/84db1bd57269bc4c9e560f8562029ede/October_28_Posting_for_FSII_-_Draft_RFP.pdf.
• Postal employee pleads guilty for stealing public funds and may face 20 in prison.  See http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19217889

DOJ IG revises Conference "muffin" report

As a result of the responses and clarifications to the September IG report suggesting that DOJ approved and paid for $16.80 muffins at a 2009 conferences, the DOJ IG revised and reissued the report, superceding its prior report.  While the clarifications corrected the factual misstatements that the muffins at the given conference were $16.80 each, it still concludes that attention must be given to reducing excessing conference costs.  See DOJ revised report: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/plus/a1143.pdf; and GovExec article: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=49168&dcn=e_gvet.

Ethics related news

• An FDA chemist plead guilty to insider trading for using nonpublic govt information for personal illicit profits. See DOJ press release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/October/11-crm-1373.html.  See also WSJ article http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20111018-713221.html.
• ICE supervisory intelligence agent indicted for misuse of diplomatic passport and travel funds for personal benefit.  See DOJ press release at http://www.justice.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/2011/Abdallat_ind.pdf.  See also GovExec article at http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=49109&dcn=e_gvet

DHS proposes additional restrictions on their employees

DHS' proposed supplemental ethics rules for its employees.  They include restrictions on the
purchase of certain Government-owned property, requiring employees to report allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse, requiring employees to seek prior approval for certain outside employment and activities, prohibiting employees in some DHS components from engaging in certain types of outside employment and activities, requiring designated components to develop instructions regarding the procedures for obtaining prior approval for outside employment and activities, and designating components within DHS as a separate agency for purposes of determining whether the donor of a gift is a "prohibited source" and of identifying an employee's agency for the regulations governing teaching, speaking, and writing.

See Fed. Reg. at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-10-12/html/2011-26160.htm

See articles discussion same: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=85&sid=2591216 and http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=49068&dcn=e_gvet

Using Inmates to Take Cornerstone?

An IEC member drew our attention to a story about a sheriff who used jail inmates for a dubious acquistion of the keystone of a local high school. A city council member commented:

To use inmates to basically take public property is probably what got a few of them in jail to start with so maybe not the best idea he's ever had.

Ex-Fed pleads guilty to misuse of Govt Travel funds

A former civilian employee of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), a component of the Department of Defense, pleaded guilty today in Washington, D.C., to making more than $485,000 in false travel claims.  See full DOJ press release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/October/11-crm-1358.html.

Washington Post Ombudsman's Take on Bogus $16 Muffin Story

Belatedly, this morning the Washington Post 's ombudsman looks into the Post's poor reporting on the Department of Justice conference spending story. He notes that DOJ spent $14.74 per person per day on all refreshments, a whole two cents above the limit of $14.76 per day. Since no one except green eyeshade types is going to get too excited about a two cents overage, rather than report the facts, the Post apparently decided to sex it up by going with a transparently inaccurate story about $16 muffins.

He includes this quote:

“Yes, we should have called Hilton,” said Barbara Vobejda, Markon’s editor. “While it does not excuse our failure to call, I can say that we did not realize until late that night on deadline which hotel hosted which conference; we did not necessarily feel the hotels had done anything wrong; and none of several editors who were involved in the story thought to suggest that we get comment from each of the hotels mentioned. That, in hindsight, was a mistake.”

Calling the Hilton would have been sound journalism, but it should not have been necessary. The numbers the Post went with were dubious on their face to anyone with even minimal experience dealing with hotels. It's well known that hotels don't necessarily break out cost categories precisely. Did none of the "several editors" who worked on the Post story have common sense or good judgment?

The ombudsman hinted at the real cause of this fiasco by noting early in his story that: "[A]s a journalist, my instinct tells me that the muffin story was just a bit too good to be true." He further notes, " All of us scribes love nothing more than to do a front-page story with national impact."

What the ombudsman is saying is that people at the Post wanted to write a story bashing government employees, and they did not let the facts get in the way. It's exactly what happened in the Post's coverage of the OGE conference. Reliable sources advise me the Post was given detailed information about actual OGE conference costs, but instead chose to go with snarky insinuations.

We strongly agree with the ombudsman's stated ideal, "But our first duty is to get as close to the truth as possible, even if that’s a bit less sensational."

Let's hope the Post tries to live up to this more often. A correction of their probably even worse reporting on the OGE conference would be a good place to start.

POGO: Contractors Much More Expensive Than Civil Servants

Irrational bashing of civil servants has become so popular, it's a pleasant surprise to see an objective analysis. A Project on Government Oversight report demonstrates that civil servants are much more cost effective than contractors:

On average, Uncle Sam spends nearly twice as much when the government outsources a job as it would if it just hired another "expensive" federal worker, says a new report by the Project On Government Oversight, "Bad Business: Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Wasted on Hiring Contractors."

In researching this report, the POGO assessed contracts in 35 different job categories, comparing the total compensation for a federal employee with contractor annual billing rates to provide the same services. Astonishingly, in 33 of the categories, the federal employee cost the Treasury significantly less than the contractor.

Consider this example. For a "general attorney" on the public payroll, the government spends about $175,000 a year on salary and full benefits. If, however, the government hires a contractor to provide the same legal services, POGO found that we taxpayers would dole out almost $555,000 a year. Comparable findings surfaced in lots of other cases. Accountants on the public payroll cost us about $124,000 a year. If we engage them through a contractor, we spend about $283,000. Federal food inspectors carry a $58,000 yearly price tag as government employees, but cost about $75,000 if they're hired through a contractor.

DOJ IG Admits Muffin Error, But Who Deserves More Blame?

The originator of the bogus $16 muffin claims, the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, has now admitted that the facts do not support the sensational claims of waste of government funds previously made. While DOJ has probably somewhat overpaid for conference expenses on some occasions, what large organization has never done so?'

Is this the end of the matter? I hope not. While the DOJ OIG was not completely blameless, the worst culprits here were the allegedly responsible journalistic organizations like the Washington Post who took a few dubious isolated sentences out of the IG report and distorted them into something totally misleading.

The urge to create a sensational headline--regardless of the facts--is reminiscent of the Post's attacks on this year's OGE conference. In both cases, the Post's coverage was more hit job than legitimate journalism.

We encourage the Post and other traditional media, whose recent financial struggles have been well documented, to strive as best they can to maintain journalistic accuracy and integrity as the inevitable downsizing continues. We hope these recent occurrences are aberrations, not early signs of deteriorating into yellow journalism at its worst.

More on the Mythical $16 Muffin

A colleague pointed out yesterday that the sensational headlines concerning the Department of Justice allegedly paying $16 for muffins at a 2009 Washington legal conference were apparently misleading. The Associated Press, Talking Points Memo and others have reached a similar conclusion. Writing for Mother Jones, Kevin Drum has a good explanation.

The initial erroneous reporting on this matter is reminiscent of the drive-by journalism attack on the Office of Government Ethics 2011 conference in Orlando. Bashing government is a time-honored journalistic tradition, and we would be the last to discourage it. However, it's a good idea to make sure you get the facts right.

No more gifts from Lobbyists?

In a September 18, 2011, posting, we alerted you to the proposed OGE expansion of the Ethics Pledge lobbyist gift ban to all career Federal employees.  If you did not see it, please note that the proposed rule was published in the Federal Register for notice and comment.  See http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-13/pdf/2011-23311.pdf.  Comments are due before November 14, 2011.

In sum, the proposed rule would make certain exceptions to the general prohibition on gifts from outside sources, 5 CFR 2635.202, unavailable for gifts from registered lobbyists.  The exceptions that would be unavailable would include the $20 deminimus & widely-attended gathering exceptions.  It would also provide implementing guidance.  For example, it defines the lobbysts for these purposes to exclude  501(c)(3) non-profit lobbyists.

White House orders agencies to review policies on conferences

The Department of Justice Office of Inspector General just released an audit report which assessed the Department's expenditures related to conferences.  The report reviewed a sampling of conferences held by the Department between October 2007 and September 2009, showing excessive spending on conferences food and beverage items, such as $16 for a muffin. See report: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/plus/a1143.pdf.  See also the Washington Post article on the same: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-16-muffin-justice-dept-audit-finds-wasteful-and-extravagant-spending/2011/09/20/gIQAXKyhiK_story.html.

In response to the audit report, OMB issued a directive for all agencies to review policies related to conferences, to try to eliminate excessive spending and promote efficiencies in conferences.  See http://www.govexec.com/pdfs/092111ts1.pdf.

Ethics related news

Here are some news item with ethics related topics:

• DOJ Press release on Former Army Corps of Engineer pleading guilty to accepting bribes on Iraqi contracts.  See http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/September/11-crm-1207.html
• SOCO Advisory 11-04 is available in the Ethics Resource Library at: http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/2011_Advisories/advisory_1104.htm. Topics include: 1. Hatch Act Guidance for Civilian Employees; 2. 2011 National Emergency Extended by President; 3. Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure update; & 4. Combined Federal Campaign.

Scientist pleads guilty to attempted espinoage

Stewart David Nozette, a scientist who once worked for the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the White House’s National Space Council, pleaded guilty today to attempted espionage for providing classified information to a person he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer.  See full Justice press release at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/September/11-nsd-1142.html.

Issues Concerning Document Destruction At SEC

A Washington Post story suggests that the SEC's recent destruction of preliminary investigation records is contrary to the prevailing practice at other federal agencies.

POGO commented on a disturbing aspect of the SEC situation, the apparent attempts to demonize and discredit the whistleblowers who brought the problem to light. POGO concludes: "This time around, we hope the SEC will focus all of its attention on assisting the OIG with its investigation and taking whatever corrective action is needed, rather than trying to discredit the whistleblower who brought these allegations to light."

Sentencing Disparity in Abramoff Case?

Talking Points Memo argues that a sentence of 17 to 22 years for Abramoff associate Kevin Ring is too harsh, since Abramoff received only a 3 1/2 year sentence, and others involved received much lighter sentences.

Questions About SEC Document Destruction

The Project for Government Oversight Blog is raising some questions about the propriety of the Securities and Exchange Commission's destruction of some records of preliminary investigations:

A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) attorney has alleged that over the past 17 years, the SEC destroyed 18,000 documents from preliminary investigations into banks and financial institutions--a potential violation of a federal law requiring agencies to maintain their records [the Federal Records Act].

[Rolling Stone writer Matt] Taibbi linked this systematic document destruction to a larger problem with the SEC enforcement division, saying that “the SEC's top policemen almost always wind up jumping straight to jobs representing the banks they were supposed to regulate.”

This problem of the revolving door between the SEC and the industry it oversees is something that POGO highlighted with our SEC Revolving Door Database.

Matt Taibbi's blog at Rolling Stone magazine is a good source of information on this and other financial stories. Whistleblower attorney Gary Aquirre raises some related issues.

Contractor Contribution Reporting Proposal

Government Executive reports on the status of a proposal to require government contractors to report on their political donations.

Changes on White House Counsel Staff

A post at The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times contains the following news:

The latest [White House Counsel] hire is Leslie Kiernan, who started on Monday as a deputy counsel to the president. Kiernan was a longtime partner at Zuckerman Spaeder who focused on white-collar defense and congressional investigations, including representing Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) during most of a lengthy House ethics probe. In 2009, she did some outside work for Obama by interviewing Justice Sonia Sotomayor prior to her Supreme Court nomination. ...

Kiernan has spent most of her career in private practice, serving at one point on Zuckerman's executive committee, but she also served on the staff of what was then the House Banking Committee. Her focus is expected to be on ethics compliance and the vetting of presidential appointees, but her portfolio will be broad, including judicial nominations and strategic advice.

In Wake of Scandal, Florida County Expands Reach of Ethics Rules

An article in the Sun-Sentinel describes how voters and elected officials reacted to the ethical scandal that forced Palm Beach County Commissioner Jeff Koons to resign from his post amidst allegations of misuse of office.  Because Koons was the fourth county commissioner to be ousted, voters approved countywide ethics reform, expanding the ethics code to all 38 cities, towns and villages in Palm Beach County.  Koons was prosecuted for his crimes (including extortion) by the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office, showing that the county and state are beginning to take these missteps much more seriously than in the past.  Finally, the case brought the Government in the Sunshine Law to the forefront, causing local officials to request an exemption from the law's requirements. 

Washington Post article on OGE's 2011 Conference

Entitled, "Sun, Spa, Golf & Ethics" the article raises public perception concerns about the location of the OGE conference.  See http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ethics-on-the-links-in-orlando/2011/07/21/gIQAhk0aSI_print.html 

News items of interest:

• State Dept. contracting officer under investigation for steering $52M of contracts to her secret husband.  See full article from Daily Caller at http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/19/state-dept-contract-officer-steers-52-million-to-secret-husband-daughter/.
• MSPB upholds removal of DHS Senior Special Agent, after he failed to establish whistleblower affirmative defense for (1) unauthorized queries of individuals on an official government computer database; (2) unauthorized disclosure; (3) misuse of position; and (4) lack of candor.  See MSPB opinion at http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=618847&version=620720&application=ACROBAT.
• MSPB dismissal of OSC case to remove an employee for violation of the Hatch Act is upheld.  OSC failed to comply with Board rules to state "with particularity any alleged violations of law or regulation, along with the supporting facts."  However, OSC may bring a new complaint.  See MSPB opinion at http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=621454&version=623336&application=ACROBAT

Newest SOCO Advisory Published

DOD SOCO Advisory 11-03 is now available. The headlines often add interest. For example:

4. NASA Spouse Gets Hubby Job; Herself Convicted

On June 2, 2010, Patricia M. Biondolillo, 50, of Newport News, Va., pleaded guilty to using her position as a NASA Human Resources Specialist (HRS) and Co-op Program Coordinator (CPC) to gain employment for her husband at the Langley Research Center.  Biondolillo faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. 
http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae/news/2010/06/20100602biondolillonr.html

DOJ Closes Investigation of Christine O'Donnell

The Justice Department has closed its investigation of an accusation from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) that former Delaware U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell misspent over $20,000 of campaign funds.  She had been accused of using the funds for personal use, including rent payments.

DoD Contractor pleads guilty to bribery scheme

Justin W. Lee, 33, former president of Lee Dynamics International, a defense contractor, plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to committ bribery and four counts of bribery.  According to court documents, Justin Lee provided things of value, including cash, airline tickets, meals, hotel stays, spa visits and jobs, which were valued at a total of more than $1.2 million, to public officials in return for official acts which helped him obtain lucrative Department of Defense contracts. 

See DOJ press release: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/July/11-crm-930.html

IG investigation into Defense Education Agency Director

The Inspector General for the Department of Defense substantiated multiple charges against the DoD Education Agency's former Director, including violations of the Joint Ethics Regulation and standards of conduct.  See Federal Times article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20110630/DEPARTMENTS01/106300306/1049/PERSONNEL and IG redacted report at: http://www.dodig.mil/fo/Foia/PDFs/MilesROIforreleaseRedacted.pdf.

Ethics News from Congress to the Supreme Court

Ethics News Online has posted three short summaries on the latest hot stories in ethics: a Congressional ethics inquiry into alleged sexual harassment charges against a Representative from Florida; more debate over whether the Supreme Court justices should be required to adhere to the federal judicial code of conduct; and the Florida Commission on Ethics has ended its attempt to collect over $200,000 in fines owed by several public officials for various ethics infractions. 

A cautionary tale ... 10th Cir. Case

Decided last Friday in the 10th Circuit.  This is a cautionary tale about a GS-15 supervisor at HUD (Denver) who did not take any leave for trips to a casino, etc.  He now has an all-expenses paid vacation for a year and a day at an unnamed Federal facility for 10 counts of theft from the USA and 10 counts of wire fraud.  See full case at http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/10/10-3162.pdf.

Former Army Contracting Officials Charged with ... Filing False Ethics Forms

A Justice press release reports that a former Army contracting official and his spouse were indicted for conspiracy to defraud the US, filing false tax statements, and filing false statements on their Government ethics financial disclosure documents.  See full press release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/June/11-tax-821.html.

More ethics related news items

Government press releases on misconduct:

• Bureau of Prisons employee indicted for selling govt equipment. http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/press/2011/2011_06_09a.pdf
• FEMA employee charged with embezzling $149K. http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/press/oigpr_040811.pdf
• Former supervisory at US Customs & Immigration Service convicted of bribery.  http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/press/oigpr_050311.pdf
• Coast Guard Officer indicted in kickback scheme in Coast Guard contracting. http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/press/oigpr_060911.pdf
• Army Sergent indicted in bribery scheme related to govt contracting. http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/June/11-crm-809.html 

Other news articles:

• The Hill's report on corrupation in the Customs & Border Protection Agency. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/165925-corruption-a-problem-at-customs-and-border-protection-agency-head-says
• GovExec article on the Congressional testimony by Ana Galinda-Marrone, Chief of the Hatch Act unit at the Office of Special Counsel re complaints of inappropriate partisan political activity in Federal workplace. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=48056&dcn=e_gvet

NY Times: At I.M.F., a Strict Ethics Code Doesn’t Apply to Top Officials

A New York Times story about disparate treatment of higher ranking officials could be useful in ethics or sexual harassment training. Thanks to Rosa Koppel for the tip.

Ethics related news

• Ex-NSA official Thomas Drake to plead guilty to misdemeanor for unauthorized use of a govt computer, instead of more severe unauthorized release of classified material.  See full article at www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/ex-nsa-manager-has-reportedly-twice-rejected-plea-bargains-in-espionage-act-case/2011/06/09/AG89ZHNH_print.html
• Weiner’s Congressional conduct case may cover new ground.  See full article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-weiner-ethics-trial-would-cover-uncharted-ground/2011/06/09/AGbG6dNH_print.html

 

Ethics in the news

More articles related to ethics, misuse of position, or misconduct by public officials:

• Former senator from Puerto Rico plead guilty and received 60 months in jail for using his public office for personal gain.  See full article at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/May/11-crm-633.html 
• Former Prince George's county executive, Jack B. Johnson, plead guilty to taking $400,000 in bribes.  See full story at http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/johnson-ex-county-executive-in-prince-georges-pleads-guilty-to-taking-bribes/2011/05/17/AF0pP75G_story.html

Senate Ethics Committee Refers Case on Former Nevada Senator to DOJ

A news article on cnn.com states that the Senate Ethics Committee referred key findings in its case against former Senator John Ensign to the Justice Department.  Ensign has been under investigation for allegedly violating Senate Rules and federal civil and criminal laws, and engaging in improper conduct.  Ensign resigned from his Senate seat on May 3 after news broke that he had had an affair with the wife of one of his top aides.

Ethics related news

Here are a couple items of interest:

• VA State legislator found guilt of soliciting bribes.  See full article: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/May/11-crm-605.html
• Former Army Major pleads guilty to money laundering associated with the bribery and money laundering scheme related to contracts in Iraq.  See full article at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/May/11-crm-602.html.

Former US Marshal Service employee pleads guilty

Sno H. Rush, formerly an employee of the U.S. Marshall Servie, plead guilty to theft of $104,000 in government funds, and was sentenced to 21 months in prison and 3 years supervised probation. The money was appropriated by misuse of her position and government credit card and used to offset her personal credit card debt.  See US DOJ press release at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/May/11-crm-588.html.

New Proposal for Contractor Organizational Conflict of Interest Rules

On April 26, 2011, the Federal Register published a new proposal to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to provide revised regulatory coverage on organizational conflicts of interest (OCI).  See proposed rule at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2011/2011-9415.htm. 

The rule differs from the previous rule proposed in late 2010, allowing contracting officials greater flexibility in asessing risk.  Of particular ethics-related interest, is the move of the OCI rules to Part 3 of the FAR, which addresses the personal conflict of interest of Government officials.  Also, the rule would distinguish between OCI and situations involving unfair competitive advantage based on unequal access to information (e.g., Health Net case).  See Federal Computer Weekly: http://fcw.com/articles/2011/04/26/organizational-conflict-of-interest-proposal.aspx?s=fcwdaily_270411.

Marine sentenced for receiving illegal gifts

U.S. Marine Corps Major plead guilty to and is sentenced to 12 months and a day (felony) for recieving illegal gifts as a contracting officer representative.

See Havelock News article: http://www.havenews.com/news/harrington-8339-receiving-marine.html; or Re-publication of DOJ press release: http://isenberg.securitycontracting.net/2011/04/marine-major-sentenced-for-receiving-illegal-gratuities/ 

S.Ct. to hear case on whether COI restrictions violate 1st Amendment Rights

A Nevada public official was centured by the state's ethics commission for voting on a provision which would have impact on his friend.  He is now appealing the ruling to the Supreme Court on the basis that this conflict of interest rule violates his freedom of speech.  Read the Washington Post full article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-confronts-whether-conflict-of-interest-laws-violate-officials-free-speech/2011/04/23/AF9hsTdE_story.html

Ethics in the News

• The National Journal article on how cartels try to corrupt Federal employees. http://www.nationaljournal.com/how-drug-cartels-try-to-corrupt-federal-employees-20110412?mrefid=site_search&page=1
• TSA employee indicted for posting child pornography on his personal FB page (he also posted photos in his uniform) http://articles.philly.com/2011-04-23/news/29466700_1_tsa-spokeswoman-ann-davis-child-pornography-federal-agents 
• Union's seek approval for "controlled napping" during official duty hours (misuse of govt resources?) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703907004576279481823660922.html?mod=WSJ_article_LatestHeadlines
• Clerk faces administrative action after posting sensitive/confidential information online. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/sealed-federal-court-records-exposed-216309

Does delay in judicial nominations increase backlog of cases for vets?

The Washington Post article discusses the backlog of cases at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, in part due to the lack of nominations from the White House.  See full article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/veterans-court-faces-backlog-that-continues-to-grow/2011/04/15/AFFaavRE_story.html

A frightening trend in the reporting news

Have you noticed that the media has been emphasizing the Federal employment status of individuals being reported for various alleged crimes, even though its unrelated to the misconduct being reported?  It seems to be a new alarming trend, which inappropriately impugns their Federal agency's integrity.

Check out these articles for example:

• http://www.news4jax.com/news/27627451/detail.html
• http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/559918/VA-employee-pleads-guilty-to-the---.html