Deceiving an ethics official is a serious offense for a government employee. Can we agree on that?

Now imagine you’re a Cabinet official leading an agency of a few hundred thousand employees. One day last spring, you decide to accept an invitation to a July conference in Europe. Your chief of staff alters a federal record so your wife can tag along at government expense. You tell a staffer with a six-figure salary to play personal travel concierge for your wife. (The staffer later emails a colleague: “Boss told me ‘if she’s happy, I’m happy and you’re happy.’”) On the trip, your entourage idles as you devote much of your time to leisure. The whole thing costs taxpayers more than $122,000.