IEC Journal

Most recent USDA Ethics Newsletter - including CFC discussion.

Thanks to Mike Edwards for the most recent USDA Ethics Newsletter. These newsletters are designed to be interesting and entertaining. For example, in this issue "The Great Zamboni" answers a question about an out-of-control Combined Federal Campaign worker (Imagine that)!  The newsletters are distributed online to all USDA employees and result in many positive comments from readers.

See http://www.usda-ethics.net/newsletters/newsletter_2009_02.pdf

Reminder of Holiday Ethics Issues

Want to publish a warning of holiday ethics issues? Before drafting your own, check out the USDA holiday ethics reminder memo.

IEC EPA Nov. 5 Presentation Materials

Attached are the presentation materials from the Environmental Protection Agency presentation addressing the topic of Federal employees serving on outside boards of associations and professional organizations in their official or personal capacity.

Slide Presentation: Download Professional_Associations_-_IEC_Presentation[1] 

Draft EPA policy: Download Draft_EPA_Supp_Reg_for_Professional_Associations[1]

Distributing Audio & Video?

Do you have audio or video ethics instruction material that would benefit others? Let us know via the "Contact Us"' link at left. We would love to distribute such materials here.

Reminder: Meeting On Thursday

The next IEC meeting will be Thursday, Nov. 5. Guest speaker Ms. Justina Fugh, of the EPA will address share insights on the topic of Federal employees serving on outside boards of associations and professional organizations in their official or personal capacity. See Pat Carney's October 19 post for details as to location, etc.

Congresstional Ethics Report Leaks

WASHINGTON—The accidental leak of a congressional ethics watchdog's report offers a rare glimpse into the internal workings of one of the most secretive bodies on Capitol Hill, revealing that the panel has dealt with a far larger number of lawmakers than previously publicly disclosed.  See full article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125694460088919841.html

Reading IEC Journal on Your iPhone

NetNewsWire is an RSS reader that works on an iPhone. The developer provides a NetNewsWire/iPhone FAQ with Answers to frequently-asked-questions about NetNewsWire 2.0 for iPhone. Other newsreaders are available for the iPhone. Many other platforms support RSS readers as well.

Questions About NRC Commissioner

Nuclear regulator broke rules, says inspector general - washingtonpost.com:

A former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission violated government ethics rules by directly contacting potential employers with business before the NRC before the end of his term in mid-2007, according to a report by the commission's inspector general.

Another View of Honest Services Prosecutions

A Huffington Post article has a negative view of the state of the "honest services" theory of prosecution. Here's the lead:

Jack Abramoff--the imprisoned Washington ex-lobbyist--must be kicking himself. On Thursday, October 15, a judge in Washington, D.C. reluctantly declared a mistrial for defendant Kevin Ring, one of Abramoff's most trusted lieutenants. The jury had found itself hopelessly deadlocked on all eight counts, most of them "private honest-services fraud." And Ring accomplished this amazing derring-do without calling a single witness in his own defense. It may be a sign that the reign of honest-services-fraud terror by federal prosecutors is finally coming to an end.

Public Integrity Chief Steps Down

A New York Times article quotes from a statement issued on behalf of departing DOJ Public Integrity chief William Welch:

While the ultimate result in the Stevens case has been highly disappointing professionally and personally," the statement said, Mr. Welch's own decisions in the case "Comported with his own and the department's highest ethical standards."