CFR

734.305—Soliciting or discouraging the political participation of certain persons.

(a) An employee may not knowingly solicit or discourage the participation in any political activity of any person who has an application for any compensation grant, contract, ruling, license, permit, or certificate pending before the employee's employing office.

(b) An employee may not knowingly solicit or discourage the participation in any political activity of any person who is the subject of, or a participant in, an ongoing audit, investigation, or enforcement action being carried out by the employee's employing office.

(c) Each agency or instrumentality of the United States or District of Columbia Government shall determine when a matter is pending and ongoing within employing offices of the agency or instrumentality for the purposes of this part.

Code of Federal Regulations

Example 1: An employee with agency-wide responsibility may address a large, diverse group to seek support for a partisan political candidate as long as the group has not been specifically targeted as having matters before the employing office.

Code of Federal Regulations

Example 2: An employee of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) may not solicit or discourage the participation of an insured financial institution or its employees if the institution is undergoing examination by the FDIC.

Code of Federal Regulations

Example 3: An employee of the Food and Drug Administration may address a banquet for a partisan political candidate which is sponsored by the candidate's campaign committee, even though the audience includes three individuals who are employed by or are officials of a pharmaceutical company. However, she may not deliver the address if the banquet is sponsored by a lobbying group for pharmaceutical companies, of if she knows that the audience will be composed primarily of employees or officials of such companies.

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