Trump FCC Boss Under Fire For Ethics Violations

Trump FCC Boss Under Fire For Ethics Violations

The National Rifle Association's decision to give one of the least liked people on the internet an award for "courage" last week wasn't just tone deaf and in poor taste, it may have violated agency rules. The NRA gifted Pai with an expensive musket at last week's CPAC's conference, insisting the agency head was "courageous" for ignoring the will of the public (and the people that built the actual internet) to kill net neutrality at Comcast and Verizon's behest.

But the gift may have been more than just tone deaf quest for attention, it may have put Ajit Pai on the wrong side of FCC ethics rules.

According to FCC Standards of Conduct rules, an FCC Commissioner can't accept gifts valued over $200 from companies impacted by their policy decisions. From 5 CFR 2635.204:

quote: If the award or any item incident to the award is in the form of cash or an investment interest, or if the aggregate value of the award and any item incident to the award, other than free attendance to the event provided to the employee and to members of the employee’s family by the sponsor of the event, exceeds $200, the agency ethics official has made a written determination that the award is made as part of an established program of recognition.

The NRA lobbied on net neutrality, putting Pai in violation of the rule. And Former White House ethics attorney Walter Shaub was quick to point this out on Twitter:» twitter.com/waltshaub/st ··· 5748480

"And even beyond the Standards of Conduct, the ethics pledge that Pai signed bars gifts from lobbyists," Shaub observed.

It's possible that Pai and the NRA can tap dance around these ethics complaints by stating that Pai never formally took "ownership" of the gift, as the musket itself is being showcased in NRA's Virginia offices. Pai can also claim he never technically accepted the gift either, even though he was willing to play up the tasteless award for yucks. But the effort to troll net neutrality supporters (86% of the nation at last count) remains petty and tone deaf all the same, and Millennial voters -- already incensed ahead of the looming midterms by the net neutrality repeal -- likely noticed.

But Ajit Pai wasn't the only FCC Commissioner whose "red meat for the base" PR stunt last week may cost them some legal headaches down the road. Pai's fellow Commissioner Mike O'Rielly also managed to violate ethics rules at the same event by openly advocating for the re-election of President Trump. Under the Hatch Act, officials like O'Rielly are forbidden from explicitly advocating for specific candidates, even if the FCC's 3-2 partisan makeup often makes partisan positions abundantly clear.

"The Hatch Act explicitly prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity while on duty," government watchdog group American Oversight said in a statement. "O’Rielly was appearing at CPAC in his official capacity as a commissioner of the FCC -- the government body which oversees regulation of the news media and the internet -- and his call for Trump’s reelection violated direct guidance issued by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) regarding federal employees and President Trump."

The potential ethics violations are just the latest scandals for an agency that's also facing multiple GAO inquiries, numerous looming lawsuits (one by almost half the states in the country) and most recently a FCC Inspector General investigation into whether Trump's FCC is too cozy with the companies it's supposed to be holding accountable to the American public.