The federal ethics system is supposed to prevent political appointees like Dunlap from serving the interests of former employers. All political appointees are required to sign the White House ethics pledge promising not to “participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts” for the first two years of their appointment. Dunlap submitted his signed pledge on his third day at EPA, and has “consistently sought” EPA counsel on ethics matters, according to an EPA spokesperson.



The phrase “particular matter involving specific parties” is defined in the ethics laws and regulations. In Dunlap’s case, EPA ethics officers determined that because formaldehyde is used by many companies in many industries, it was not a “specific party matter,” and so was not subject to the ethics pledge, the spokesperson said.

However, on the same day EPA took formaldehyde off the list of chemicals assessed by the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)—the agency’s independent process for evaluating the harms toxic chemicals pose to people and the environment—Dunlap voluntarily recused himself from decision-making on the chemical “to avoid the appearance of any ethical concerns,” according to a recusal statement he filed with the EPA.

Dunlap’s recusal stated that he would not participate “in any matters related to the formaldehyde IRIS assessment for the duration of [his] EPA tenure.” The EPA’s spokesperson explained to POGO that:

Although not required by federal ethics law or regulation, Mr. Dunlap voluntarily recused himself from participating in matters related to the EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment on formaldehyde, which is not a specific party matter and therefore subject to the terms of the Trump Ethics Pledge. Nevertheless, to avoid even the appearance of any loss of impartiality, Mr. Dunlap chose to recuse himself given his previous involvement in this issue while with his former employer.

In addition to the ethics pledge, current impartiality ethics standards prohibit, for one year, a government employee from participating in a “particular matter involving specific parties” where the employee knows that a party has a “covered relationship” and “where the employee determines that the circumstances would cause a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts to question his impartiality in the matter.”

It’s hard for us to believe that Dunlap’s previous work on formaldehyde issues wouldn’t have triggered the one-year cooling off period. That ethics standard would deem Koch a covered relationship, and Dunlap should have easily determined that his work for the company and specifically on opposing regulations involving formaldehyde would cause reasonable people to question his impartiality. Apparently, he did eventually come to that conclusion when he recused himself from the EPA’s assessment on formaldehyde to “avoid even the appearance” of impartiality.

The “particular matter involving specific parties” language isn’t preventing many conflicts of interest for people coming into government service. In response to this problem, POGO asked Congress to prohibit government employees from participating in matters in which they know there is a “financial interest” favoring their former employer or client. Additionally, we proposed to the Trump and Clinton campaigns and transition teams a stronger two-year ban on appointees participating in particular matters involving specific parties that involved substantial communication with the federal government. And we proposed extending the two-year restriction to cover a “specific issue area”—an area that “has a special or distinct effect on that party other than as part of a class.”