Let ethics office do its job
Walter Shaub is trying to do his job. The director of the federal Office of Government Ethics has taken note of the large number of former lobbyists hired by the Trump administration and exercised his authority to seek the waivers those new officials have received to take up their positions. Unfortunately, the Trump White House appears to be looking for ways to thwart his efforts.
It is doing so in violation of the spirit of its own executive order, signed shortly after the president took office in January, and the law creating the ethics office that stems from the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. In the past, under Democratic and Republican presidents, the White House has applied the necessary pressure and ensured compliance when agencies and departments have been slow to produce the waivers.
In his executive order, the president echoes his predecessor in barring lawyers and lobbyists hired as political appointees from working for two years on matters that involve former clients. For lobbyists, that means staying away from regulatory issues that were part of their portfolios. As in the Obama years, the order permits exceptions, or waivers, usually for those with special skills or when the overlap proves slight. Following precedent, the Obama team attached lengthy explanations to its waivers. It also made the waivers public.
When Shaub made his request, the Trump Office of Management and Budget responded with a letter asking him to withdraw his request, challenging the “expansive scope and breathless timetable,” arguing the matter required “further legal guidance.” The letter accused the ethics office of having a political agenda.
The brazenness of the letter is familiar. The ethics office is well within its authority, as legal experts and officials in previous administrations have made clear. Its purpose is sound. Without access to the waivers, the office and the public have no basis for establishing whether a waiver violates ethics laws or the administration is shirking its legal obligation.
Recall how the president campaigned frequently and emphatically declaring: “Drain the swamp.” Follow the rhetoric, and the president, at a minimum, would insist on compliance with the ethics office request.
Shaub rightly has described federal ethics policies as “the gold standard internationally.” They are one way in which America is great, and why the president has a duty to comply, in this instance, making public the waivers.