What is a conflict of interest?

Red words are not links - they are vocabulary for a later exam.

As any president sets up and organizes his administration, there are many government positions to fill (like the Cabinet.) Accusations of conflicts of interest usually fly and grab a lot of media attention. Some of those accusations will be wholly or partly false and some will be true or partly true. It's important not to be ultracrepidarians as we learn about and research presidential administrations.

In particular, we should remember that conflicts of interests are often not a black/white issue, so knowledge of the circumstances is very important.

We will learn about conflicts of interest, something every president’s nominees must not have, but sometimes do - which is corrupt. Cronyism is the most common form of government appointment corruption. Cronyism means a government official appoints a friend or a person who owes them in some way - such as campaign contributions in exchange for a position - which amounts to bribery, or buying a position in the government.

The following are the most common forms of conflicts of interests:

• Self-dealing, in which an official who controls an organization causes it to enter into a transaction with the official, or with another organization that benefits the official only. The official is on both sides of the "deal."
• Outside employment, in which the interests of one job conflict with another.
• Nepotism, in which a spouse, child, or other close relative is employed (or applies for employment) by an individual, or where goods or services are purchased from a relative or from a firm controlled by a relative. To avoid nepotism in hiring, many employment applications ask if the applicant is related to a current employee of the company. This allows recusal if the employed relative has a role in the hiring process. If this is the case, the relative could then recuse from any hiring decisions.
• Gifts from friends who also do business with the person receiving the gifts or from individuals or corporations who do business with the organization in which the gift recipient is employed. Such gifts may include non-tangible things of value such as transportation and lodging.

 Other improper acts that are sometimes classified as conflicts of interests may have better classification. For example, accepting bribes can be classified as corruption, use of government or corporate property or assets for personal use is fraud, and unauthorized distribution of confidential information is a security breach. For these improper acts, there is no conflict inherent conflict.