Political Skullduggery

In a move that is not expressly being linked to the lobbying scandals gripping Washington, a new proposal seeks to have all members of the government's Senior Executive Service be prohibited from contacting their old agencies (lobbying) for a one year period following retirement.

A story in GovExec.com details the widening of the number ex-government employees subject to the new recommendation.

The Office of Government Ethics proposal would widen the pool of top officials subject to a one-year "cooling-off" period limiting the contacts those officials can have with their agencies after leaving government. Currently, only executives above a certain salary level are subject to the restriction.

The proposal is included in a new OGE report commissioned by Congress, which also includes a series of other recommendations for modifying conflict of interest laws related to federal employment.

The 1978 Ethics in Government Act imposed the cooling-off period, which prohibits senior federal employees from communicating with their former agencies on behalf of another company or organization about matters under their general area of official responsibility while in government. (Federal employees at all levels permanently are barred from seeking to influence their former agencies about matters on which they personally worked.)

There will, however, be a loophole big enough to drive a limousine through:

OGE declined to recommend extending post-employment restrictions to contractors, although the report noted that contractor employees often work alongside their federal counterparts. But the report said "OGE believes it is appropriate to identify this as an emerging ethics issue for further consideration."

Well, that tells you where these retirees are likely to be spending their first year (or more) out of government.