Quote of the Day
"At the end of the day, anybody could fall into a trap like I did."
Gifts
"At the end of the day, anybody could fall into a trap like I did."
Conflicts of Interest
December 6, 2014
Gift Bans and Falling Sales
According to an article in the November 29 issue of The
Economist, when China banned gifts to government officials,
sales of the principal producer of baijiu, a sort of Chinese vodka,
fell 78% in just a year.
The only sales that would likely go down if gifts were banned across the board in the United States would be restaurant and golf club sales. That is because petty bribery is less a problem here than the ongoing reciprocal relationships between lobbyists and the government officials their clients are seeking to influence.
The only sales that would likely go down if gifts were banned across the board in the United States would be restaurant and golf club sales. That is because petty bribery is less a problem here than the ongoing reciprocal relationships between lobbyists and the government officials their clients are seeking to influence.
Conflicts of Interest
October 31, 2014
Some Wisdom on Gifts from a Former Lobbyist
Former lobbyist, now jailbird, Kevin A. Ring shared some valuable
words of wisdom in an
op-ed piece in the Washington Post this week.
Conflicts of Interest
August 19, 2013
Do Gifts Establish Subordination?
Five years ago, I wrote a blog post about gifts
and reciprocity, based on a classic anthropological work, Lewis
Hyde's The Gift.
Conflicts of Interest
May 17, 2012
Gifts from Organizations That Are Not Restricted Sources, But . . .
I want to revisit a situation I mentioned a few days ago in a
post about ethics reform.
Conflicts of Interest
April 11, 2012
The Quid Pro Quo of Social Relationships
An excellent article on the front page of last Sunday's New York Times looks at a proposal by the federal Office of Governmental Ethics (OGE) to limit
two exceptions to the prohibition on accepting gifts from
lobbyists: the "widely-attended gathering" (WAG) exception and
the "social invitations" exception.
Local Government Practice
February 5, 2010
Novel Approaches to Local Government Corruption in India and China
India and China have not only been the home of new varieties of
entrepreneurialism. In these countries, creative individuals have also come up with
novel approaches to dealing with local government corruption.
An expatriate Indian physics professor in the U.S. came up with the brilliant idea of a Zero-Rupee Note to hand out in situations where local officials expect or ask for bribes.
An expatriate Indian physics professor in the U.S. came up with the brilliant idea of a Zero-Rupee Note to hand out in situations where local officials expect or ask for bribes.