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>> We hope these skits have been an entertaining reminder of the range of ethics rules governing
behavior of Federal employees. The Departmental ethics office and the bureau
of ethics counselors are here to help you think through the various ethical issues you
face on a daily basis so that you do not risk violating the criminal statutes or the ethics
regulations. The Departmental ethics office is honored
to partner with DOI's office of inspector general in helping employees aspire to a high
level of personal and professional integrity in pursuit of the Department's missions.
We are proud to welcome our acting inspector general Mary kindle.
>> Good afternoon. I'm Mary Kendall, the Department's acting
inspector general. I'm honored to have the opportunity to talk
with you for a few minutes about the importance of fostering a culture of integrity in the
Department of the Interior, a culture of integrity that necessarily begins with the individual.
My office, the office of inspector general, is an independent entity within the Department
charged with oversight of the Department programs and operations.
By law, we have no management control over these programs and operations.
But the Department cannot interfere with our oversight.
This allows us to be truly objective and independent. The OIG plays a crucial role in building a
culture of integrity by investigating alleged ethical lapses and working with the Department
to prevent ethics problems from occurring or continuing in the future.
As an independent entity, the OIG is a safe and discreet place to bring concerns about
us is expected ethical misconduct. We would rather learn of potential ethics
issues directly rather than happen upon them when they are part of a large larger more
serious problem. A culture of ethics is important to the a
culture of integrity relies on the integrity of the individuals that comprise it.
It means that we as individuals must take ownership of and responsibility for our own
actions. It also means being responsible for our inaction.
We've all heard the adage... all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people
do nothing. Most of the ethics cases that the Office of
Inspector General investigates are borne out of three categories...
A sense of entitlement, conflict of interest,
and the belief that doing something good in one area cancels wrong doing in another.
The first two categories should be self evident. The third is best explained by Albert Einstein,
who said, "Relativity applies to physics, not ethics."
Who might justify taking those expensive sporting events or concert tickets from a contractor
by saying, if I don't take them, someone else will.
Who has approved awarding of grant funds to favorite grantee while also serving on its
board of directors. Who has said I have worked for the Federal
government for decades, I deserve some benefits if my retirement job after all those years
of Service? These would be the people we investigate.
Many of our cases are brought as a result of conscientious employees informing us of
problems they noticed on the job. Of course, individual responsibility means
much more than speaking up about the improprieties that might happen around us.
It also means making sure that our own behavior is ethical, that we would be proud of what
we do, even when we think no one is paying attention.
A strong internal ethical compass is absolutely essential to fostering a culture of integrity.
One way to ensure that our internal ethical compass is working is to ask...
Do I have any doubt that what I am about to do is ethical?
Unless the answer to that question is an unequivocal no, we probably should not do it.
Other questions we might ask are: Is there a potential conflict of interest
or the appearance of a conflict between my work for the Department and any outside employment
or Service on a board? Am I following the rules of my bureau and
the Department with respect to acceptance of gifts, including meals and entertainment
from anyone within or outside the Department? Am I acting fairly and without bias or preferential
treatment in my participation in reviewing or awarding a contract or grant?
Have I properly reported all my financial interests on official financial disclosure
forms? And have I followed the rules and laws with
respect to my pursuit of employment after my career in the Department?
If we are asking these questions, we should at the very least seek the advice of an ethics
counselor. If you do not know who your ethics counselors
are, find out and seek them out. In the same vein, we cannot assume that what
our colleagues or superior routinely do is necessarily the ethical way to do things.
As we saw in the now well known minerals management Service royalty in kind scandal from a few
years ago, subordinate employees followed the unethical lead of managers who themselves
felt a sense of entitlement blind to conflicts of interest in their dealings with oil company
representatives. No one seemed to ask: is this conduct proper
regardless of what the boss might be doing? Of course, this is not to set employees against
their colleagues or supervisors. Rather, we should always keep in mind that
we, not our supervisor, not our colleagues, and not the people who report to us, are always
responsible for our own ethical conduct and personal integrity.
I've heard it said that our ethical muscle grows stronger each time we choose right over
wrong. We need to exercise our individual ethical
muscles in the Department of the Interior on a regular basis with the collective goal
of building a strong, pervasive culture of integrity throughout.
Thank you.