IEC Journal

Federal Eye

The Washington Post's Federal Eye blog reports on the Federal Government, including this post on the latest developments concerning Inspectors General.

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.

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.

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) 

OGE Building Photo Available

In response to our request for new artwork, a generous IEC member provided a copyright-free photo he had taken of the Office of Government Ethics building. It's a great shot of 1201 New York Ave. NW from atop the IBEW building in Chinatown. Unfortunately, we are not able to use this excellent photo as the logo for this site, due to the possibility of confusion between OGE and the Interagency Ethics Council. However, we are pleased to be able to make this professional-quality photo available for downloading by IEC members who would like to use it in training materials. 

We have an idea for alternate new artwork, but in the meantime solicit other ideas or contributions. Preferably, the new artwork would fit in the existing space (150 x 219 pixels), or could be compressed or cropped to fit into the existing layout without too much image degredation.

US OGE Mailing List Archives

Do you ever wish you could locate old e-mails from OGE's mailing list? There is an easily searchable online archive, including the September 16, 2002 welcome message from then-Director Amy Comstock up to the latest OGE missive.

It's available at:

http://listserv.access.gpo.gov/archives/oge-ethicsinfo-l.html

 

There's an easy procedure to get a password.

Search Techniques Reminder

Recent correspondence from IEC members experiencing difficulties with web site searches convinces us a reminder of some powerful specialized search techniques is in order. All rely on customized Google searches:

1. If you are searching the OGE web site for information on travel payments, you might enter a search request like this into Google:

1353 site:usoge.gov

The site:usoge.gov part tells it to search only that web site. Incidentally, this trick works on any web site. You can search IEC Journal by using this language: site:iecjournal.org.

2. Alternatively, you can enter your OGE search request at the following specialized web site set up by a helpful IEC member:

http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=015302775765566133892%3Ajbqmf7oexls

To make it easier to find this customized search site, we have included a link on the right side of this site, under the name

_Custom Search OGE web site

OGE Quick Reference Chart

Thanks to Wayne Johnson for alterting us to the new U.S. Office of Government Ethics Ethics Official Quick Reference Chart. It's available in PDF and MS Word formats. The chart lists the primary source ethics materials and provides active web links that take you to the source documents.  The chart can also be used as an index or table of contents to what the OGE web site has to offer.

Army Ethics Officer Deskbook

The Army Ethics Officer Deskbook is often a good source of information for agencies outside DOD. This discussion of ethics waivers was helpful:

9. Waivers

a. Individual Waiver (18 U.S.C. 208(b)(1) and 5 C.F.R. 2640.301). An agency may determine in an individual case that a disqualifying financial interest in a particular matter or matters is not so substantial as to be deemed likely to affect the integrity of the employee's services to the Government.

(1) Requirements for issuing 18 U.S.C. 208(b)(1) waivers:

(a) The disqualifying financial interest, and the nature and circumstances of the particular matter or matters, must be fully disclosed to the appointing official.

(b) The waiver must be issued in writing by the Government official responsible for appointing the employee to his position.

(c) The waiver should describe the disqualifying financial interest, the particular matter or matters to which it applies, the employee's role in the matter or matters, and any limitations on the employee's ability to act in such matters.

(d) The waiver shall be based on a determination that the disqualifying financial interest is not so substantial as to be deemed likely to affect the integrity of the employee's services to the Government. (Evidence of good character is NOT relevant).

(e) The waiver must be issued prior to the employee taking any action in the matter or matters.

(f) The waiver may apply to both present and future financial interests.

(2) Factors to Consider:

(a) The type of interest that is creating the disqualification (stock, bonds, real estate, other securities, cash payment, job offer, or enhancement of spouse's employment).

(b) The identity of the person whose financial interest is involved and if that interest is not the employee's, the relationship of that person to the employee.

(c) The dollar value of the disqualifying financial interest, if it is known or can be estimated (e.g. the amount of cash payment which may be gained or lost, the salary of the job which will be gained or lost, the predictable change in either the market value of the stock or the actual or potential profit or loss or cost of the matter to the company issuing the stock, the change in the value of real estate or other securities).

(d) The value of the financial instrument or holding from which the disqualifying financial interest arises (e.g. face value of the stock, bond, other security, or real estate) and its value in relationship to the individual's investments.

(e) The nature and importance of the employee's role in the matter, including the extent to which the employee is called upon to exercise discretion in the matter.

(f) Other factors: The sensitivity of the matter; the need for the employee's services in the particular matter; and adjustments that may be made in the employee's duties that would reduce or eliminate the likelihood that the integrity of the employee's services would be questioned by a reasonable person.

(3) When practicable, a Government official is required to consult formally or informally with OGE prior to granting a waiver. A copy of each such waiver is to be forwarded to OGE. A copy of the waiver is publicly available. Note: DoD recommends that you use two memoranda. One is the actual waiver signed by the cognizant official containing the statutory determination language and sufficient supporting facts, which is releasable, and the other is a legal memorandum discussing the facts in more detail for the official, which is not releasable.

(4) In a program review, OGE will review all waivers, so be careful.

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.