Government Ethics Officials Raise Red Flags On EPA Chief Scott Pruitt; NPR, April 10, 2018

Domenico Montanaro, NPR; Government Ethics Officials Raise Red Flags On EPA Chief Scott Pruitt

"The Office of Government Ethics on Monday issued a strongly worded letter (full letter at the bottom of this post) that lays out its case for why ethics matter.

"Public trust demands that all employees act in the public's interest, and free from any actual or perceived conflicts when fulfilling governmental responsibilities entrusted to them," writes David Apol, acting director and general counsel of the office.

What's more, Apol points out, Pruitt is not just any "employee" who has to be held to this standard.

"Agency heads in particular bear a heightened responsibility," he notes. That's because, according to the Code of Federal Regulations, agency heads are literally "required to 'exercise personal leadership in ... establishing and maintaining an effective agency ethics program and fostering an ethical culture in the agency.'"

Not only that, but the statute lays out the expectation that agency heads "enforce" ethics rules in their agencies and consider them in "evaluating the performance of senior executives.""