MEMORANDUM FOR ALL MEMBERS, OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES
FROM: Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
s/ Joel
Hefley, Chairman
s/ Alan B. Mollohan, Ranking Minority Member
SUBJECT: Campaign Work by
Congressional Staff Members
___________________________________________________________________________
With
this election year well underway, the Committee has been receiving many
inquiries on the rules and standards that govern campaign work by congressional
staff members. The rules and standards
in this area are vitally important to ensuring that staff time and other
congressional resources, which are paid for with taxpayer funds, are not
improperly converted to campaign or political purposes. Thus,
we urge that each Member whose congressional staff members do campaign work
review this memorandum and the related materials carefully.
In addition, because each Member is responsible for ensuring that his
or her staff members comply with House rules and standards of conduct, we also
urge that each Member require each of his or her staff members who do
campaign work – including district staff of Member offices – to read this
memorandum and the related materials.
A
full explanation of the rules and standards on campaign work by congressional
staff appears on pp. 20-29 of the Campaign
Activity booklet published by the Standards Committee.[1] As the booklet details, there are essentially
two key points that Members and staff need to keep in mind –
1.
Any campaign work done by
staff members must be done outside the congressional office, on their
own time, and without using any congressional office resources, and
2.
No staff member may be in any way compelled or required to do any
campaign work.
These
rules apply to all congressional staff members – those who are employed in
committee or leadership offices, as well as those employed in Member
offices. As to what is a staff member’s
“own time,” this is determined by the personnel policy of his or her employing
office, and it is time in which the staff member is entirely free to engage in
personal or other outside activities as he or she sees fit. Depending on the office policy, an employee’s
own time may include, for example, a lunch period, time after the end of the
business day, weekends, or annual leave.[2] Employees may also switch to part-time status
in order to do campaign work, with an appropriate reduction in House pay.
The Committee strongly recommends that any House employee
who does campaign work maintain careful records of the time spent performing
official duties and, separately, the time spent doing campaign work. Maintaining such records helps to ensure that
no campaign work is done on
“official” time, i.e., time for which
the individual is compensated with House funds. It also enables an employee to demonstrate
that he or she has complied with the rules in the event a question is raised by
the news media, a political opponent, or anyone else. Subject to the rules issued by the House Administration
Committee, an employee may also go on Leave without Pay (LWOP) status for the
purpose of doing campaign work, but an employee who does so must cease
performing official House duties.
Please
note that the above rules apply to any
campaign or political work by congressional staff, whether for a Member’s
re-election campaign or for some other campaign or political undertaking. Certain activities, such as soliciting
contributions or working with campaign consultants, clearly constitute political
activity and are subject to these rules.
As to certain other tasks – such as drafting a speech, or attending an
event – a question may arise on whether the activity constitutes political
work, or instead constitutes the performance of official duties. Whenever such a question arises, the Member
or staff person involved should consult with the Committee’s Office of Advice
and Education.
As
a general matter, when engaging in campaign activity, neither Members nor staff
may make use of any congressional resources, including congressional office
equipment, supplies, or files (including names or addresses contained in the
files or official mailing lists). The
rules on this point are detailed on pp. 7-20 of the Committee’s Campaign Activity booklet.
The
prohibition against coercing or requiring staff member to do campaign work is
broad. It forbids Members and senior
staff from not only threatening or attempting to intimidate employees regarding
doing campaign work, but also from directing or otherwise pressuring them to do
such work. Members and superiors in a
congressional office should be cautious in asking a staff member to do campaign
work, as a request from a superior may be misunderstood to be an order.
Any
questions on the rules and standards governing campaign work by congressional
staff, as well as requests for any Committee publications, should be directed
to the Committee’s Office of Advice and Education at (202) 225-7103.
[1] Copies of the booklet are available from the Committee office, and the text of the booklet, as well as other Committee publications, is also available on the Committee’s Web site, www.house.gov/ethics.
[2] On the other hand, it is permissible for a Member to require that a congressional employee work on evenings or weekends, provided that the work constitutes the performance of official duties – as opposed to political or other non-official work – and other applicable provisions of law are complied with.