May 11, 1999

MEMORANDUM FOR ALL MEMBERS, OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES

FROM: Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
Lamar Smith, Chairman
Howard L. Berman, Ranking Minority Member
SUBJECT: Prohibition Against Linking Official Actions to Partisan or Political Considerations,
or Personal Gain

By this memorandum, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct undertakes to remind

House Members and staff of one of the fundamental rules of ethics for government service. That
rule is that government officials, including House Members and staff, are prohibited from taking
or withholding any official action on the basis of the partisan affiliation or the campaign
contributions or support of the involved individuals, or the prospect of personal gain either for
oneself or anyone else. House Members and staff are likewise prohibited from threatening
punitive action on the basis of such considerations.
As detailed below, questions in this area have arisen most frequently on the matter of casework.
The Committee has long advised that in responding to constituents’ requests for casework
assistance, House Members and staff are to disregard such considerations as the individual’s
partisan affiliation, political support, or campaign contributions. Under this guidance, House
offices are not to give preferential treatment to casework requests made by the Member’s
supporters or contributors, but rather are to handle all requests for casework assistance according
to their merits.
With this memorandum, the Committee stresses that –
these rules apply generally to all official actions taken by a Member or his or her
congressional office, and not merely to casework matters, and
these rules preclude the taking of official actions, either in favor of or against individuals or
organizations, based on such considerations, and also preclude threatening to take
punitive actions based on such considerations.
Committee Guidance on Casework
Standards of conduct applicable to casework matters, including the rule requiring that partisan
and political matters be disregarded in the handling of those matters, were set out in Advisory
Opinion No. 1 of this committee, which was issued in 1970. That opinion, which is reprinted in
the House Ethics Manual, 102d Cong., 2d Sess. (at pp. 263-66), states that one of the basic
standards of conduct regarding casework is the following:
A Member’s responsibility in this area is to all his constituents equally and should be
pursued with diligence irrespective of political or other considerations.
The manual elaborates on the point, stating (at p. 250), "Because a Member’s obligations are to
all constituents equally, considerations such as political support, party affiliation, or campaign
contributions should not affect either the decision of a Member to provide [casework] assistance
or the quality of help that is given." Thus while a congressional office is certainly free to give
casework assistance to a constituent who has been a supporter of or contributor to the Member,
the nature and level of assistance should be the same as the office would provide to any other
constituent having a similar problem.
The manual also quotes (on pp. 250-51) from a report issued by the Senate Select Committee on
Ethics in connection with the "Keating Five" case, as follows:
The cardinal principle governing Senators’ conduct in this area is that a Senator and a
Senator’s office should make decisions about whether to intervene with the executive
branch or independent agencies on behalf of an individual without regard to whether the
individual has contributed, or promised to contribute, to the Senator’s campaigns or other
causes in which he or she has a financial, political or personal interest.
Another of the basic standards of conduct enunciated in Advisory Opinion No. 1 is that the use
of threats of reprisal, or promises of benefits, in pursuing casework matters constitutes an abuse
of the powers of the congressional office and is prohibited:
Direct or implied suggestion of either favoritism or reprisal in advance of, or subsequent
to, action taken by the agency contacted is unwarranted abuse of the representative role.
Applicability of the Rules to All Official Activities
While the guidance set forth above is specifically addressed to the handling of casework matters,
that guidance is applicable to all official actions taken by Members and staff, including with
regard to legislation. This is so because this guidance reflects certain basic standards of ethical
conduct that apply to government officials in all of their activities.
Specifically, one of the key provisions of the Code of Ethics for Government Service states, in
¶5, that government officials should "[n]ever discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special
favors or privileges to anyone, whether for remuneration or not." The Code further provides, in
¶10, that "public office is a public trust," and as the House Ethics Manual observes in this regard
(at p. 24), "The public has a right to expect Members, officers, and employees to exercise
impartial judgment in performing their duties." The manual further notes (at pp. 18-19) that the
provisions of the Code of Ethics for Government Service are applicable to House Members, and
that formal charges may be brought against a Member for violating the code.
More generally, as the manual notes (at p. 4), one of the ultimate purposes of the ethics rules is to
help ensure that each governmental action is taken on the merits of the particular question, rather
than any extraneous factors. Thus the manual quotes one of the leading authorities on
government ethics as stating, "Ethics rules, if reasonably drafted and reliably enforced, increase
the likelihood that legislators (and other officials) will make decisions and policies on the basis
of the merits of issues, rather than on the basis of factors (such as personal gain) that should be
irrelevant."
Furthermore, this guidance does not only preclude Members and staff from bestowing benefits
on the basis of the recipient’s status as a supporter or contributor, or partisan affiliation. This
guidance equally prohibits Members and staff from taking punitive action, or threatening
punitive action, on the basis of such considerations. In this regard, one of the regulations issued
by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics for the Executive Branch provides as follows:
An employee shall not use or permit the use of his Government position or title or any
authority associated with his public office in a manner that is intended to coerce or induce
another person . . . to provide any benefit, financial or otherwise, to himself or to friends,
relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity.
5 C.F.R. §2635.702(a). House Members and staff should likewise adhere to this rule.
Any questions on this memorandum should be directed to the Committee’s Office of Advice and
Education at extension 5-7103.