Ethics Requirements are Too Daunting for Trump Nominees

What’s the story?

Every modern president has advanced nominees for political posts that had to drop out, but the Trump administration is on course to set a record. According to a report by Politico, the administration has had difficulties retaining nominees because the applicants are "increasingly frustrated by the high cost and huge time commitment required to meet the government’s ethics and conflict-of-interest rules."

Why does it matter?

Barack Obama withdrew five nominations, George W. Bush pulled three and Bill Clinton yanked four within the first six months of their presidencies. To date, President Trump has withdrawn five nominations. Two more individuals dropped out of the process before they were formally nominated. According to sources, Politico maintains "at least a half-dozen other not-yet-announced candidates for administration jobs have quietly dropped out behind the scenes."

President Obama had one particular nominee, Penny Pritzker, a billionaire who was nominated to be Commerce Secretary, who presented real challenges to ethics officials because of the vastness of her holdings.

The Trump administration’s nominees include dozens of wealthy individuals with similar obstacles as Pritzker. Philip Bilden, who dropped out after being announced as the nominee to head the Navy, cited the complications of the vetting process and the financial costs to "his family’s private financial interests" as reasons for dropping out:

"[A]fter an extensive review process, I have determined that I will not be able to satisfy the Office of Government Ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my family's private financial interests”

Some argue that the problem is inappropriate targeting of the administration’s nominees by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), that oversees the vetting. Politico quoted a lawyer who has worked with several nominees:

"I’ve heard this from people, as senior as you can get, that OGE is out to get us. They are very conspiratorial when it comes to all of these things. But that’s just not how it works in government."

A former government ethics lawyer stated, in contrast, to Politico:

"This is written into statute. It’s not OGE that makes you go through this. It is burdensome, don’t get me wrong. But this administration isn’t being treated worse or better."

What can you do?

Do you think nominees are dropping out because their financial holdings are too complicated to easily mesh with ethics expectations of government service? Or do you think they are being held to a higher standard than previous administrations’ nominees by the Office of Government Ethics?

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— Asha Sanaker

(Photo Credit: Wikipedia / Creative Commons)