Robert L. Walker Comments on the Year’s Biggest Government Ethics Stories

Robert L. Walker, an attorney in Wiley Rein’s Election Law & Government Ethics Practice, spoke with Roll Call for a December 4 column on the year’s top government ethics stories.

Mr. Walker, a former chief counsel and staff director of both the Senate and House ethics committees, was among leading government ethics attorneys who weighed in on which stories were the biggest of 2012.

Among the year’s top ethics stories, the Roll Call column identified passage of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, the investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and the criminal trial of former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC).

Mr. Walker told Roll Call that another of the top ethics stories for 2012 was the scandal surrounding a lavish $800,000 conference held in Las Vegas by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Details of the 2010 event became public in April 2012, sparking outrage and prompting the GSA and other agencies to make dramatic changes to their travel and conference policies, according to the column.