Gov’t Program on Ethics: Crossword Puzzles
Learning about ethics is hard, and such a bummer.
Luckily, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics has found a way to make it fun!
By FOIA request, a Web site called Government Attic has obtained a series of crossword puzzles from the ethics office used to teach government employees right and wrong.
The series of five puzzles, completed in 2007, cover topics like appropriate uses of government equipment and misuse of position. (We found the puzzles via a blog named referencetone. And yes, we rang government office and confirmed the puzzle is real.)
To see how you measure up, see if you can answer the following clues. Answers below.
If your score is:
5 - Daniel Ellsberg
4 – Barbara Jordan
3 - Eliot Spitzer
2 – Edwin Edwards
1 – Boss Tweed
0 – Caligula
1. Don’t use your government office to _______ yourself or others. (7 letters)
2. Widely used and misused piece of government equipment. (6 letters)
3. You are to file and pay these by April 15. (5 letters)
4. Generally you can’t receive money for talking about your official ______. (6 letters)
5. Accepting gifts too _____, even when permitted under the gift exceptions, is a bad idea. (5 letters)
Bonus question from the puzzle: This act governs the political activities of executive branch employees. (5 letters)
Answers:
1. benefit
2. copier
3. taxes
4. duties
5. often
Bonus: Hatch
Get Updates
Our Hottest Stories
- Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud
- In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives
- Billion Dollar Bait & Switch: States Divert Foreclosure Deal Funds
- Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy
- Patient Died at New York VA Hospital After Alarm Was Ignored
- Introducing the ProPublica Patient Harm Community on Facebook
- Got Student Loans? Share Your Documents With Us
- Built for a Simpler Era, OSHA Struggles When Tower Climbers Die
- Remember Stuxnet? Why the U.S. is Still Vulnerable
- Congressional Leader Calls for Investigation of the Pardon Office
- Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud
- Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy
- Air Force Pilots Balk at Flying the World’s Most Expensive Fighter Jet
- In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives
- Patient Died at New York VA Hospital After Alarm Was Ignored
- Watchdog Group Calls for Probe of Lobbyists Behind Congressional Trip to Taiwan
- Billion Dollar Bait & Switch: States Divert Foreclosure Deal Funds
- N.Y. Congressman Will Reimburse Costs for $22,000 Taiwan trip
- Happy Graduation! Here's The Best, Most Depressing Journalism on Student Debt
- Remember Stuxnet? Why the U.S. is Still Vulnerable







1 comments
C_Yee
March 19, 2009, 11:57 a.m.
I scored better than Boss Tweed, but I would have done even better if I didn’t miss number 2. (I thought the answer was “intern”)
Seriously though, these educational materials are never used in government unless someone breaches the rules—usually egregiously. Then they have a class for all the employees so that they can cover their “bases”.
Commenting on this story is closed.