美禁止國家官員參加“冰桶挑戰” 違反執業倫理

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge might be a viral phenomenon, but some of official Washington’s ethics police are throwing cold water on diplomats and House members taking part in the cause.

The Associated Press reports the State Department’s lawyers have banned US ambassadors and high-profile workers stationed overseas from participating in the challenge, which uses videos shared on Twitter, Facebook and other social media to raise awareness of the incurable disease.

A House committee sent a reminder about a rule against using official resources to promote a private charity. The Military Times reports the Pentagon has issued a warning that says service members and civilian defense employees can’t participate while in uniform.

An unclassified cable obtained by the AP on Thursday says the ice bucket challenge is against federal ethics rules.

“There are firmly established rules preventing the use of public office, such as our ambassadors, for private gain, no matter how worthy a cause,” reads the State Department cable, sent last week. “Thus, high-ranking State Department officials are unfortunately unable to participate in the ice bucket challenge.”

The State Department missive follows a House Administration Committee e-mail sent this week warning lawmakers of a rule in the ethics manual that prohibits using “official resources for the promotion or benefit of any private charitable cause.” The House e-mail was first reported by Politico.

For House members, that means it’s OK to use campaign funds and a campaign Twitter or Facebook account to share an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video — but not the official ones tied to the congressional office.

Some House lawmakers have been deleting their bucket challenge videos and tweets from their official accounts, according to the news site.

More than $41 million has been raised by the ALS Association since July 29 to help strike Atromyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.儘管“冰桶挑戰賽”已經在全球掀起一股熱潮，然而，美國政府道德委員會的官員卻給參加挑戰的美國外交官和議員們澆了“一頭冰水”。

美聯社報道稱，美國國務院律師已經禁止美國駐外大使和知名度頗高的官員參加這一挑戰。該活動的參與者會將自己的視頻發佈在推特（Twitter）、臉書（Facebook）和其他社交媒體上，旨在讓更多人知道肌肉萎縮性側索硬化症這一不治之症。

衆議院一委員會曾表示，通過官員推動私人慈善活動有違法律規定。美國《軍事時報》（The Military Times）報道稱，國防部已下達警告禁止軍人和民兵參加冰桶挑戰。

美聯社獲取的一份非機密電文表示，冰桶挑戰違反了聯邦道德規則。

該份由美國國務院本週發送的電文顯示：“有明確法律規定，不論出於何種目的，國家公職（如官員和駐外大使）不得成爲謀取私利的手段。因此，國務院高層官員將無緣冰桶挑戰。”

電文發佈前，衆議院一管理委員會給立法者發送了一封郵件，強調道德法有規定禁止“通過官員推廣任何私人慈善事業或爲其籌款”。

需要注意的是，衆院議員可以動用競選資金以及使用爲競選開設的推特或Facebook賬號上傳和分享參加冰桶挑戰賽的視頻。但已經與國會工作綁定的官方賬號則不行。

據美國新聞網站Quartz報道，一些衆議院立法者已經刪除了他們官方賬號上的冰桶挑戰視頻和推文。

自“冰桶挑戰賽”於7月29日在美國興起，ALS（肌肉萎縮性側面硬化病）協會已經籌集了超過4100萬美元（約2.52億元人民幣）的捐款。