its corrective order against an agency resisting its authority to do so. This leads to my final point: lack of dispositive judicial construction to enforce a statute through suit is not necessarily a reason for not trying in an appropriate case. Government lawyers, if they can satisfy themselves that a good faith legal argument can be made in support of a particular construction of a statute, and the purpose served by that construction furthers the ends sought to be achieved in the law, will often move ahead even without conclusive legal proof that they will succeed. Indeed, government attorneys, through incremental interpretative efforts, are always expanding statutory schemes. In the Ethics-lnGovernment Act itself, the Department of Justice brought a criminal case under the federal false statements statute for allegedly false financial disclosure statements required to be filed under EIGA despite the removal of criminal penalties from the legislation during its consideration in Congress. United States v. Hansen. F.2d (D.C. Cir. l985). In summary, it appears that the statute and its history conclusively establish OGE's authority to order agencies to take corrective action it deems necessary and that it has an impressive array of means with which to do so. Mr. Sikorski. The Chair now calls David Martin, Director of the Office of Government Ethics. Mr. Martin, take a seat. I have a couple of preliminary questions. You are advised that a copy of the House Rules is available before you for your reference, in particular, Rule 11. Do you wish to have counsel present? Mr. Martin. Counsel? Mr. Sikorski. Yes. Mr. Martin. Well, I have my Chief Counsel with me. Mr. Sikorski. He is, I take it, this is Mr. Mr. Martin. Mr. Covaleski is to my left, your right, Chief of the Monitoring Compliance Section in my office. To my right is Mr. Donald Campbell, who accompanies me, Chief Counsel of the office. Mr. Sikorski. He is here to testify, if necessary, on questions that are asked? Mr. Martin. He is here to assist me. Mr. Sikorski. He is not here as your counsel, however? Mr. Martin. My personal counsel? I am my personal counsel. Mr. Sikorski. Gentlemen, I take it, you two might be making comments or responding to questions as we go along. Do either of you wish to have counsel present. Mr. Campbell. No. Mr. Covaleski. No. Mr. Sikorski. Do any of you object to being sworn in? Mr. Martin. No. Mr. Campbell. No. Mr. Covaleski. No. [Witnesses sworn.] TESTIMONY OF DAVID H. MARTIN, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS, ACCOMPANIED BY DONALD CAMPBELL, CHIEF COUNSEL, OGE, AND JACK COVALESKI, CHIEF, MONITORING COMPLIANCE SECTION, OGE Mr. Sikorski. Mr. Martin, you may proceed with your statement. Mr. Martin. I submitted a statement for the record, and I apologize for it not arriving until this morning, but it was not cleared by OMB until late Friday. I ask that it be submitted for the record. I would amplify that statement by saying we are involved in ensuring that ethics are carried out in the Executive Branch, and we have, to that end, engaged in extensive and intensive training and dissemination of materials and information that would assist the various Executive Branch agencies in carrying out their duties. I specifically direct your attention to page 3 of my prepared statement where we, by bullet, list 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, specific things that we have been involved in. In particular, we are very proud of two things. One is the publication of this little pamphlet called, "How to Keep Out of Trouble, Ethical Conduct for Federal Employees." Over 400,000 have been distributed in the Executive Branch. It was done by our initiative in 1985. It has been received very well in the Executive Branch, and one of Mr. Covaleski's subordinates worked on it quite extensively. The other thing we are quite proud of is the newsletter that we have instituted in 1984 under a program to educate the DAEOs and General Counsels involved in the ethics matters. I would like to list the things we have discussed in that newsletter which are important in the ethics world. The review of public financial disclosure forms, spousal employment problems, Presidential transition aids, issues of negotiating for employment, severance payments, how to manage an ethics program, post-employment problems, issue of commercial discounts, the issue of participation in seminars, outside employment, a variety of recent Comptroller General opinions affecting ethics, and a general discussion of the criminal conflict of interest laws. These things, we think, are timely issues, and our publication is put out quarterly, and we think it has been a big help. Other than that, Mr. Chairman, we are prepared to answer any questions you may have about our program. [The statement of Mr. Martin follows:] FINAL FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY STATEMENT OF DAVID H. MARTIN BEFORE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AHD CIVIL SERVICE U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MR. CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE: I appreciate your invitation to appear before this Subcommittee to discuss the mission, organization, and operations of the Office of Government Ethics. Since l983, the responsibilities given to the Office of Government Ethics have not greatly changed. These responsibilities remain focused on five major areas regulations, review of financial disclosure reports, education and training, guidance on conflict of interest laws and enforcement. This is in keeping with OGE's primary obligation of providing overall direction of Executive Branch policies regarding conflicts of interest. In November l983, the Act was amended to: • establish a five-year term for the Director of the Office of Government Ethics; • authorize the Office of Government Ethics to issue regulations in consultation with the Office of Personnel Management; • require that a line item for the Office of Government Ethics be included in Hie President's annuaI budget request; • authorize the Director of the Office of Oovcrnmcnt Ethics to request assistance from agency Inspectors General in conducting investigations on matter involving compliance with public financial disclosure) • provide for Office of Government Ethics review of financial disclosure reports of high-level White House aides; • extend the outside earned income limitation of section 2l0 of the Ethics in Government Act to certain high-level White House aides; • provide a statutory basis for Office of Government Ethics review of financial disclosure reports during Presidential transitions; • require Senate-confirmed Presidential nominees to update earned income information near the time of their confirmation hearings; • require reporting individuals who make divestiture or recusal agreements to notify appropriate authorities when such actions are taken; • clarify the requirements for the certification of certain blind trusts; and |