A quick Friday note to get you all ready for the weekend. It’s a cautionary tale of how government ethics rules can entangle folks even with the best of intentions. It comes to us courtesy of the Alaskan Native News.

The Alaskan Native News reported that Jodi Ann Andres, a former DCAA auditor, had been indicted by a federal grand jury for (allegedly) violating federal conflict of interest laws. According to the news story, Ms. Andres worked for the DCAA from 2003 to 2006. During that period, “she was the primary auditor of cost proposals, labor rates and claims for the Missile Defense Agency.” The story reported—

The Alaska Aerospace Corporation, formerly the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation, was established in 1991 by the State of Alaska to develop a high technology aerospace industry in the state. Alaska Aerospace became a contractor for the Missile Defense Agency in 2003 and under a five year contract, provided support for launches from the Kodiak Launch Complex in Kodiak, Alaska.

In September 2006, Andres left employment with the DCAA and began employment with Alaska Aerospace as its Controller. The indictment alleges that in July 2008, Andres represented Alaska Aerospace during communications and negotiations with the DCAA about the same Missile Defense Agency contract she had previously audited, with the intent to influence the DCAA about that contract, in violation of a lifetime restriction which barred such communications.

Well.

We’re not experts on Federal ethics rules. We’re not attorneys. So we have a hard time understanding how representing a contractor—years after the fact—on matters in which the auditor was significantly involved represents a conflict of interest. If she had known she was going to take the job while performing the audit, we’d get it. But such an allegation was not reported. Accordingly, we’re left wondering where the conflict of interest was to be found.

In the meantime, we should all pause and reflect on how the onerous and complex federal ethics rules can have an impact, literally years after one’s federal employment took place.