Ethics

11 Unintended Consequences Of Government Executive Disclosure Act

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Legislation intended to deter members of Congress from profiting from stock trades based on inside information is inadvertently forcing 28,000 federal employees to expose their personal financial information on the Internet.

The result, according to a trade group for senior government executives, is a number of unintended risks that federal employees must now bear, and another reason for talented executives to think twice about serving their country by taking a position in the federal government. Keep reading →

Published June 19, 2012 at 1:01 PM

White House Launches Ethics Website

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The White House launched a new website today devoted to government ethics practices, fulfilling the President’s campaign promise to create a single website for searches related to executive branch ethics and influence data.

The new website is part of the administration’s Data.gov website, and can be found at Explore.data.gov/ethics. The site provides the public the ability to enter a name and search government data, to see available records on individuals in government-”including campaign finance, lobbying, and White House visitor records,” according to the site. Keep reading →

Published March 8, 2012 at 12:06 PM

DHS Ethics Rule Could Chill Communications With Industry

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Proposed changes to Homeland Security Department ethics rules could chill communications with the public and organizations, an executive of the Professional Services Council said in comments submitted yesterday.

The proposed rule could “hamper current efforts to foster greater communication with industry by characterizing as ‘outside employment’ any speaking engagement or any material written for publications by federal employees, regardless of whether the communications relate to their jobs and regardless of whether the employees are compensated,” a PSC spoke person explained. Keep reading →

Published December 9, 2011 at 4:18 PM