Thread: Ethics office highlights ban on endorsements after Trump tweets 'Buy L.L. Bean'

Ethics office highlights ban on endorsements after Trump tweets 'Buy L.L. Bean'

By Peter Schroeder - 01/13/17 02:35 PM EST

The chief government ethics watchdog reminded executive branch employees Friday they are barred from endorsing products — one day after President-elect Donald Trump tweeted his support for retailer L.L. Bean.

The Office of Government Ethics posted a “refresher” on its website Friday that details certain practices that are prohibited for members of the executive branch. Included on the list is “endorsing any product, service, or company.”

The article was posted one day after Trump tweeted “Buy L.L. Bean” to his nearly 20 million followers.

Trump thanked Linda Bean, the heiress to the outdoor apparel company and supporter of a pro-Trump PAC, in the tweet.

The OGE post does not make any mention of Trump directly, but the president-elect and the independent ethics watchdog for the executive branch have clashed lately on ethical issues.

On Wednesday, OGE Director Walter Shaub said a just-announced plan by Trump to distance himself from his broad business interests was “wholly inadequate” since the incoming president planned to retain a stake in his empire, while handing day-to-day control to his two adult sons.

In turn, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have requested a private interview with Shaub to discuss legislation reauthorizing the office.

Ethics experts hailing from both parties have been insistent that the only way Trump can protect himself from questions of conflicts of interest is by divesting completely from all his assets, as has been standard practice for presidents for the last four decades.

But Trump has resisted those requests and instead said he would retain ownership of his company while no longer managing it.

The latest “Director’s Note” from OGE was its first in nearly two months.

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/314...ts-buy-ll-bean

Our Presidents need to be free to speak, whether you like them or not, whether you agree with them or not, and the reason is this: when business is interrupted by politics, it's no longer "just business", it's "just politics", so any President who wants to push back on a politically motivated boycott of any company, to me that President has that right and doing so is not an ethical violation it's their personal political choice.

I support boycotts, I support spending your money with companies who operate according to what's best for our country, what's great for our workers, what's good for our people. We often do that here against the globalists trying to destroy our nation. While we have that right others have the same right to boycott the companies we like because they hire legally and support US immigration law. And when such is going on, yes, even the President has their voice to speak up for or against, depending on their view. These are not "endorsements" in the ethical sense, they are political opinions and positions in support of their own policies for our country.

I'm not sure that Ethics Office is entirely worth its while, and the reason I say that is our government has never ever been as corrupt as it's being exposed to be as it is today, so whatever goals and objectives the Ethics Office is supposed to achieve, one would think corruption would be at the top of the list of Ethics issues. Yet look at where we are with a government full of liars, cheats, thieves and traitors which has nothing at all to do with Trump and his lovely company assets he spend a lifetime creating and building. Ethics Office is probably filled with a bunch of government lawyers who don't know very much about business, are probably all Socialist Democrats, and exploit their positions for political agendas.

Probably time to either Clean House, Drain the Swamp and/or Defund.