A light has now shined on executive branch travel finances: Bush administration officials have been routinely accepting trips from companies and trade associations with a stake in their agencies' decisions. From April, 2006 to March, 2007, more than 100 of these trips would be out of bounds for members of Congress under the recently passed ethics bill, because they lasted more than one day and were paid for by companies or groups that employ lobbyists; the bill doesn't apply to the Executive or the Judicial branches of federal government.
The ethical question would be, of course: do the special interests paying for these trips by their regulators constitute a conflict of interest? It would seem to me that, if Company X in a resort area has polluted the river next to it, and flies Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials there for free to argue their cause, that would be a conflict of interest. The EPA is the regulator, and it's financial support must come exclusively from the American taxpayer, so that a hands-off relationship with their regulatees is maintained.
The Congressional ethics bill to be given a veto or signing by President Bush should have applied to the Executive branch as well. Otherwise, executive officials not mindful of their only financial supporters may continue falling for these travel finance mistakes.
No comments:
Post a Comment