Joshua Zimmerberg doesn’t think his personal financial information should be posted for the world to see just because he’s a federal employee.
And he’s not alone.
Joe Davidson
Joe Davidson writes the Federal Diary, a column about the federal workplace that celebrated its 80th birthday in November 2012. Davidson previously was an assistant city editor at The Washington Post and a Washington and foreign correspondent with The Wall Street Journal, where he covered federal agencies and political campaigns.
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As chief of a cellular and molecular biophysics lab at the National Institutes of Health, he is one of 28,000 high-level civil servants and political appointees who could be hit by a new law requiring their personal financial data to be posted online.
Zimmerberg is among those suing the government in an attempt to stop implementation of the Stock Act, a.k.a. Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, which originally was meant to prohibit insider trading by members of Congress and their staffs.
But legislators, who too often can’t get basic stuff done on time, rushed through the provision legislation on the controversial section affecting federal employees, which was added during the amendment process. An alarming amendment became bad law.
Fortunately, the legislative and judicial systems are trying to make things right. U.S. District Court Judge Alexander Williams Jr., in Maryland’s southern division, has delayed implementation of the law until Oct. 31. And Congress has postponed the online posting requirement until the end of this month. Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are considering various alternatives to address the situation. But they don’t have much time. Members of Congress have this week to act, before going home to campaign.
“This is frustrating,” said Rep. James P. Moran (D-Va.). “We don’t have a sterling record of acting even in an urgent situation. And this is an urgent situation.”
Moran said he has drafted, though not yet introduced, a bill that would delay implementation of the Internet disclosure provision for a year, during which its potential impact would be studied.
Republicans, however, think Democrats want to delay implementation to avoid having Obama administration officials’ details available before Election Day. Another plan would allow exemption for some employees, but not all.
“We are discussing best options for moving forward but don’t have anything to discuss publicly at this time,” said Megan Whittemore, a spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). Jonathan Graffeo, a spokesman for Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), who pushed the controversial provision, said the senator wants executive and legislative branch employees to be treated the same, which the measure does.
Depending on what the legislators do, Zimmerberg and the other plaintiffs could seek another injunction, according to their lawyer, Jack McKay, with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and William Bransford, general counsel of the Senior Executive Association (SEA), the lead plaintiff. Other plaintiffs include several individuals and the American Foreign Service Association, the Assembly of Scientists and the National Association of Immigration Judges.
Williams’s opinion drew heavily on a June 19 letter to Congress from an ad hoc group of former national security officials who said that “posting this detailed financial information on the Internet will jeopardize the safety of executive branch officials.”
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