Attorney General Hawley enacts strict internal ethics policy

(From Attorney General Josh Hawley)

Attorney General Josh Hawley has implemented the toughest ethics policy of any Attorney General’s office (AGO) in the country.

Immediately upon assuming office, Hawley issued a memorandum imposing new ethics requirements on all AGO employees.

“As the chief law-enforcement agency in the State of Missouri, the attorney general’s office must adhere to the strictest standards of ethics, integrity, and transparency. The people of Missouri deserve nothing less,” Hawley said in a memo distributed to all AGO employees. “This ethics policy, which imposes the toughest ethics standards in the nation, will ensure that the public can trust that the AGO will always serve the public interest, not special interests and lobbyists.”

The AGO’s ethics policy has four key components:

-Neither the Attorney General nor any AGO employees may accept gifts from lobbyists.

-Neither the Attorney General nor any AGO employees will communicate with any person about AGO business unless that person has fully complied with Missouri’s lobbyist-registration requirements.

-The Attorney General will not accept any campaign contributions from any person who has a pending bid or application for a state contract on which the AGO has decision-making authority.

-The Attorney General will not accept any campaign contributions from any person currently under investigation by the AGO.

“This new policy shows that we’re serious about setting the highest standards of public service,” Hawley said. “We will not become part of the status quo. We will challenge the status quo to better serve the people of Missouri.”