IX. Code of Ethics for Government Service

The Code of Ethics for Government Service articulates broad ethical guidelines for “all Government employees, including officeholders.” The 85^th Congress adopted this Code in 1958. [93] Among other things, the Code stresses that any person in government service should:

• Adhere to the highest moral principles;
• Give a full day’s labor for a full day’s pay;
• Never discriminate unfairly by dispensing special favors;
• Never accept favors or benefits that might be construed as influencing the performance of governmental duties;
• Make no private promises binding on the duties of office;
• Engage in no business with the Government inconsistent with the performance of governmental duties;
• Never use information received confidentially in the performance of governmental duties for making private profit; and
• Uphold the Constitution, laws, and legal regulations of the United States and of all governments therein and never be a party to their evasion.

The Code of Ethics for Government Service was adopted as a concurrent resolution expressing the “sense of Congress,”[94] rather than as a statute. This Committee has concluded, however, that the ethical precepts set forth in this code “represent continuing traditional standards of ethical conduct to be observed by Members of the House at all times.”[95]

Formal charges may be brought against Members of the House for violating this code. Among the violations charged against former Representative Traficant during the disciplinary proceedings that led to his expulsion was that he violated the requirement of the Code of Ethics for Government Service that Members uphold the laws of the United States and never be a party to the evasion of those laws.[96] In another instance, the House reprimanded a Member based on charges concerning his use of his official position for pecuniary gain and receipt of benefits under circumstances that might have been construed as influencing official duties. There the Member took official actions that enhanced the value of his personal financial holdings.[97]  In another matter, the House reprimanded a Member found responsible for permitting official resources to be diverted to his former law partner (by allowing him use of government furniture, photocopy services, supplies, and long distance telephone service over a nine-year period) in violation of paragraph 5 of the Code of Ethics for Government Service and 31 U.S.C. § 1301(a) (“[a]ppropriations shall be applied only to the objects for which the appropriations were made except as otherwise provided by law”).[98]