The Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section (“PIN”) is out with its annual report to Congress for 2011.  PIN has oversight responsibility for the prosecution of criminal laws related to the abuse of public trust by government officials, including federal campaign finance laws.  It handles cases directly and also serves in an advisory capacity to support and oversee public corruption prosecutions by U.S. Attorneys Offices. 

Among the highlights and lowlights of PIN’s annual report for 2011:

  • Years after the scandal was exposed, Jack Abramoff-related cases continued to provide a steady stream of work for PIN.  Two of the three federal legislative branch convictions highlighted involved individuals connected in some fashion to Abramoff. 
  • The report provides further evidence that PIN aggressively prosecutes those who have reimbursed campaign contributions and those who provide campaigns with false information.  All three of the election law cases highlighted in the report — including PIN’s failed prosecution of former U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate John Edwards — involved charges that the defendants caused inaccurate statements to be filed with the FEC.  Two of those cases related to political contribution reimbursement schemes.  In general, anecdotal evidence suggests an increasing emphasis by PIN and by U.S. Attorneys Offices nationwide on investigating and prosecuting campaign contribution reimbursement cases. 
  • As described in the chart below, PIN’s overall corruption caseload appears to be down somewhat from 2010.  We think this reflects a general clearing of the deadwood by Jack Smith, the relatively new chief of PIN, rather than an intentional reduction in PIN’s aggressiveness.  And we suspect the annual report for 2012, which will be issued next year, could reveal an uptick as a new wave of cases are investigated and prosecuted.  Here are the stats for 2011:
  Cases Pending Close of 2010 Cases Pending Close of 2011
Corruption in the federal judiciary 1 0
Corruption in Congress 9 6
Corruption in federal executive branch 26 14
Corruption in state and local government 40 30

 

  • The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Puerto Rico led the country in corruption convictions in 2011 with 130, followed distantly by Maryland and the Eastern District of Virginia.  Puerto Rico also ranks second for total convictions since 2002, trailing only New Jersey. 

 

Tags: campaign finance, DOJ, enforcement, government ethics, Public Intergrity Section
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Photo of Robert Kelner Robert Kelner

Robert Kelner is the chair of Covington’s Election and Political Law Practice Group. Mr. Kelner provides political law compliance advice to a wide range of corporate and political clients.  His compliance practice focuses on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying disclosure, pay to…

Robert Kelner is the chair of Covington’s Election and Political Law Practice Group. Mr. Kelner provides political law compliance advice to a wide range of corporate and political clients.  His compliance practice focuses on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying disclosure, pay to play, and government ethics laws, as well as legal ethics rules.  His expertise includes the Federal Election Campaign Act, Lobbying Disclosure Act, Ethics in Government Act, Foreign Agents Registration Act, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  He is also a leading authority on the arcane rules governing political contributions by municipal securities dealers, investment advisers, hedge funds, and private equity funds.  Mr. Kelner advises Presidential political appointees on the complex process of being vetted and confirmed for such appointments.

In addition, he regularly advises corporations and corporate executives on instituting political law compliance programs.  He conducts compliance training for senior corporate executives and lobbyists.  He has extensive experience conducting corporate internal investigations concerning campaign finance and lobbying law compliance, as well as other corporate compliance matters.  Mr. Kelner regularly defends clients in investigations by the Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. House & Senate Ethics Committees, the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, the House & Senate Judiciary Committees, the House Energy & Commerce Committee and its Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Special Committee on Aging, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and other congressional committees.  He has prepared numerous CEOs and corporate executives for testimony before congressional investigation panels, and he regularly leads the Practicing Law Institute’s training program on congressional investigations for in-house lawyers.  He also defends clients in Lobbying Disclosure Act audits by the GAO and enforcement actions and audits by state election and lobbying enforcement agencies.

Mr. Kelner has appeared as a commentator on political law matters on The PBS News Hour, CNBC, Fox News, and NPR, and he has been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Legal Times, Washington Times, Roll Call, The Hill, Politico, USA Today, Financial Times, and other publications.

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Photo of Zachary G. Parks Zachary G. Parks

Zachary Park advises a wide range of corporate and political clients on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying disclosure, pay to play, and government ethics laws. Mr. Parks regularly advises corporations and corporate executives on instituting political law compliance programs and conducts compliance…

Zachary Park advises a wide range of corporate and political clients on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying disclosure, pay to play, and government ethics laws. Mr. Parks regularly advises corporations and corporate executives on instituting political law compliance programs and conducts compliance training for senior corporate executives and lobbyists. He also has extensive experience conducting corporate internal investigations concerning campaign finance and lobbying law compliance and has defended clients in investigations by the Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee.

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