1. Qualifications and limitations on staffs of special counsels (a) Application This section applies with respect to any Federal officer or employee— (1) who is— (A) a special counsel appointed by the Attorney General under Department of Justice regulations; or (B) any other official appointed by the Attorney General who exercises a similar degree of independence from the normal Department of Justice chain of command; and (2) whose investigation or prosecution involves an elected official. (b) Qualifications To work on the staff or advice (1) Contributions while serving It disqualifies a person for further advising or working on the staff of an officer or employee to whom this section applies that such person makes a contribution to a candidate for elective office or to a political party during such service. (2) Statement under penalty of perjury required Before taking up the duties of working in the staff of an officer to whom this section applies, a person must sign, under penalty of perjury, a statement that such person has not made, within the 8-year period ending on the date such person begins such duties, a contribution to a candidate for elective office or to a political party. (c) Limitations on Federal employment after working on staff A person who works on the staff of an official to whom this section applies shall not be employed, during the 5-year period after that person leaves the staff, in any Federal executive branch office or in a position within the civil service other than one within the competitive service in the Department of Justice— (1) for which the compensation is determined under the General Schedule pursuant to title 5, United States Code, and any other law applicable to the salary levels set forth in that General Schedule; and (2) which the person held immediately prior to taking up duties working on the staff.