Eisen is the Board Chair of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), an organization he co-founded in 2003; and was the White House ‘Ethics Czar’ from 2009-2011
WASHINGTON, DC— Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) today announced that Ambassador Norm Eisen will be her guest at the State of the Union address tomorrow night.
“I have always admired Ambassador Eisen’s outstanding public service, and I am delighted that he will be my guest tomorrow night at the State of the Union Address,” said Shea-Porter.
Ambassador Eisen is an expert in government ethics.
“Congresswoman Shea-Porter is a leader in fighting for government ethics, transparency, and the rule of law,” said Ambassador Eisen. “I am very pleased to attend the State of the Union as her guest, representing those who work in my field.”
Shea-Porter has taken a number of steps to strengthen government ethics laws:
- Shea-Porter has cosponsored the Presidential Disclosure of Foreign Business Transactions Act, which would require the president to disclose business transactions with foreign governments exceeding $10,000 on a monthly basis.
- Shea-Porter has cosponsored the Executive Appointee Ethics Improvement Act, which would codify the five-year lobbying ban on former appointees, increase the cooling-off period to two years for communications between former appointees and any officer or employee of the department or agency in which they served, and prohibit employees entering the government from participating in any matter that is directly or substantially related to their former employer or clients. It would also prohibit lobbyists who join the administration from participating in any matters on which they lobbied for the two prior years.
- Shea-Porter has cosponsored the Presidential Conflicts of Interest Act, which would require a detailed financial disclosure from the President, Vice President, their spouses, and minor or dependent children of all their financial interests, including releasing their tax returns. It would require them to divest all assets that create financial conflicts of interest by placing them in a true blind trust to be managed by an independent trustee. It would also prohibit presidential appointees from participating in matters that directly involve the financial interests of the President or businesses controlled by the President.
- Last May, Shea-Porter called on Office of Management and Budget Director Mulveney to send all administration ethics waivers to Office of Government Ethics (OGE) after he initially refused to do so. She also cosponsored the White House Ethics Transparency Act, which would require federal agencies to send all ethics waivers to the OGE and require the OGE to post them online.
- Last September and October, Shea-Porter sent multiple letters seeking explanations for inappropriate Cabinet Member travel on chartered and military planes.
Ambassador Norman L. Eisen is the chair of the government watchdog group CREW, which he co-founded in 2003, and a CNN political commentator. He has co-authored such reports as “The Emoluments Clause: Its Text, Meaning, and Application to Donald J. Trump,” “The Impact of Open Government,” and “Why Critics of Transparency are Wrong.” Eisen served from January 2009 to January 2011 in the White House as special counsel and special assistant to the president for ethics and government reform. The press dubbed him “Mr. No” and the “Ethics Czar” for his tough anti-corruption approach. He also advised President Obama on lobbying regulation, campaign finance law, and open government issues, helping to assure the most scandal-free White House in modern history. Following his service in the White House, Eisen was the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2011 to 2014.