[ncdnhc-discuss] Conflict of interest

[Kent Crispin]

On Fri, Mar 15, 2002 at 02:37:32PM -0500, James Love wrote:
> The US Hatch Act limits what public employees can do in terms of politics.
> It is designed to retain public confidence in the civil service.  Jamie
> 
> http://www.osc.gov/hatchact.htm
> 
> Political Activity (Hatch Act)

The Hatch Act is essentially irrelevant.  To the extent that it is 
relevant, it supports my position

It says, on that very web site, that employees under its umbrella :

  May register and vote as they choose 
  May assist in voter registration drives 
  May express opinions about candidates and issues 
  May participate in campaigns where none of the 
     candidates represent a political party 
  May contribute money to political organizations or 
    attend political fund raising functions 
  May attend political rallies and meetings 
  May join political clubs or parties 
  May sign nominating petitions 
  May campaign for or against referendum questions, 
    constitutional amendments, municipal ordinances

  May not be candidates for public office in 
    partisan elections 
  May not campaign for or against a candidate or 
    slate of candidates in partisan elections 
  May not make campaign speeches 
  May not collect contributions or sell tickets to 
    political fund raising functions 
  May not distribute campaign material in partisan 
    elections 
  May not organize or manage political rallies or 
    meetings 
  May not hold office in political clubs or parties 
  May not circulate nominating petitions 
  May not work to register voters for one party only 
  May not wear political buttons at work 

Note that 

    1) the above only applies to the most sensitive federal positions; 
       federal judges, people who approve contracts or work for the CIA or 
       NSA or so on.  They do not apply at all to people who hold jobs like
       "Technical Systems Manager" (which, as far as policy making is 
       concerned, is essentially equivalent to "janitor").
    2) the major restrictions are on *partisan* elections, which
        don't exist here

I was a government employee up until a few weeks ago; I am familiar 
with the restrictions on government employees.  The attempt to apply 
those conflict of interest rules to this situation are completely 
inappropriate. 
    
And, while all this discussion of US governmental processes is no doubt
fascinating to everyone, the fact is that it is *all* essentially
irrelevant.  ICANN is very very different from any governmental agency.

-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Be good, and you will be
kent at songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain