Bush Asks U.S. Watchdogs to Safeguard Ethics

President Bush urged the official watchdogs for all federal departments and agencies Tuesday to help him fulfill his commitment to “the highest ethical standards in government.”

Bush told the inspectors general in a memo that he is relying “on your vigilance to help me honor that commitment.”

Bush has sent Congress legislation that would revise federal ethics law and ban receipt of honorariums by members of Congress.

“Even with adoption of these measures, I realize how much our system of ethical standards will still depend on the work of individuals,” including “specialists like you who devote their careers to the maintenance of high standards,” Bush wrote to the inspectors general, with whom he met in January shortly after his inauguration.

He did not mention the influence-peddling scandal at the Department of Housing and Urban Development now under investigation as a result of an inspector general’s report.

But Bush said:

“Your careful monitoring of agency activities and your diligence in investigating possible improprieties is essential both in ensuring that employees adhere to scrupulous standards and . . . seeing that justice is done when employees fall short of proper conduct.”