New Pentagon Rule Slows Revolving Door
Government Executive reports:
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 itn 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.
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.
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