The Hill News

Upon inauguration, President Obama promised an ethical government free of conflicts of interest. But the administration has absurdly stretched this laudable goal to effectively put all government decision makers in a bubble isolated from the reality of business and job creation. This is harmful to business, especially small businesses seeking to export through trade shows, and it will hurt new job creation.

As directed by the White House, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has proposed extending the lobbyist gift ban for political appointees to all government employees. The gift ban was put in place to ward against the “backroom deals” that characterized the practices of criminals like Jack Abramoff. What it was not meant to do was to put a wall between business and government, which are equal partners in the role of job creation.

Yet however well-meaning they may be, these rules have the effect of criminalizing efforts by government officia! ls to learn about business trends by attending trade shows. In particular, the OGE proposes to eliminate the “widely attended gathering” exception that allows civil servants to attend trade shows, conferences and similar events. Not only do these rules fail to show how government employee attendance at these events constitutes corruption, but the OGE now makes the illogical leap of labeling any interaction between government and business as criminally suspect.  

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