[steve-b]

The main difference between your two examples is that a drug pusher's activities are clearly illegal.

Er, giving a gift over $50 to a government employee whose agency does business with you or regulates you is every bit as "clearly illegal" as a storage locker full of crack cocaine.

[blowfish]

OK, I stand corrected. Lock em up!

[antiRepublicrat]

Er, giving a gift over $50 to a government employee whose agency does business with you or regulates you is every bit as "clearly illegal" as a storage locker full of crack cocaine.

I've done a lot with Army contracting, and it doesn't even need to be illegal. Employees are told to avoid even the appearance of inethical behavior even if it's actually innocent. Likewise, contractors such as Microsoft should know better than to do stuff like this.