Posted on 09/05/2009 2:20:09 PM PDT by Cindy
Note: The following text is a quote:
THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2009 AT 2:56 PM Ethics Update Posted by Norm Eisen
We have previously reported six limited waivers that have been granted by the White House pursuant to the President’s Executive Order on Ethics for Executive Branch personnel – the strongest ethics standards in U.S. government history. Three of these waivers involved lobbying-related issues and three did not. We blogged about them here, here, and here.
Several months ago, the public interest community suggested that we also make available in a central place limited waivers granted by other federal agencies besides the White House. Today, we are releasing all ten such agency-granted waivers (none of which involve lobbying). The President’s Executive Order calls for an annual report to be completed in early 2010 that will include all waivers granted pursuant to the Order. We are, however, pleased to make all of the pledge waivers granted to date by this Administration available now--more than four months early.
The ten waivers by agencies can be found here. All involve limited waivers of paragraph 2 of the President’s ethics pledge (none involve Paragraph 3, the lobbying provision). That is, they permit certain Executive Branch appointees to work on particular matters that may involve persons with which the appointees formerly had a professional relationship because there was a compelling public interest in allowing it. In each case, it was determined by an agency ethics officer after careful review that the public interest in permitting the appointee’s participation outweighed any appearance concerns.
We note that decisions to grant the limited waivers have been exceedingly rare. The six White House and ten agency waivers together apply to 16 out of approximately 1890 appointments that have been made: that is less than 1%. And out of the 1890 appointments, only 3 times has the Administration waived the ethics pledge lobbying provision – that is less than one tenth of one percent. As we have pointed out before, and as experts agree, even the toughest rules require some flexibility. Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute said the following: "It is important and necessary to have the highest ethical standards for service in an administration-- and also appropriate and necessary to strike a balance by having a limited number of waivers to make reasonable accommodations to attract the best possible talent to serve in key government posts. The Obama White House has done just that, as this additional disclosure of ten agency waivers makes clear." Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution said: "The steps taken today by the White House to shed additional light on the use of the waiver provision of the President’s Executive Order on Ethics should reassure critics of his policy and its implementation. By disclosing the ten waivers granted by other federal agencies and documenting that it has waived the ethics pledge lobbying provision only three times, the Administration has demonstrated that its new ethics standards are not being undermined by backdoor exceptions."
Norm Eisen is special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform
Previously...
http://www.whitehouse.gov/EthicsPledgeWaiversReleasedbytheWhiteHouse/
ETHICS PLEDGE WAIVERS RELEASED BY THE WHITE HOUSE
Jocelyn Frye, Director of Policy and Projects in the Office of the First Lady
Cecilia Muñoz, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Executive Office of the President
William Lynn, Deputy Secretary of Defense
Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President
Jonathan Kravis, Associate Counsel, White House Counsel’s Office
Chris Weideman, Associate Counsel, White House Counsel’s Office
I followed a link at the whitehouse.gov site and found this list of waivers. Atty General Eric Holder is waived from the Ethics Pledge?!?!?!
Executive Agency Ethics Pledge Waivers
The following appointees serving Executive Branch agencies have received limited waivers from Designated Agency Ethics Officials (DAEOs) to the Ethics Pledge required by Executive Order 13490 of January 21, 2009.
Bolden, Charles
Breuer, Lanny A.
Carter, Ash
Holder, Eric
Ogden, David W.
Reitinger, Philip R.
Rogers, Margot
Shelton, James H.
Walker, Naomi
Williams, Aaron S.
http://www.usoge.gov/directors_corner/pledge_waivers.aspx
Previously...
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.usoge.gov/directors_corner/pledge_waivers.aspx
Presidential Transition
Executive Agency Ethics Pledge Waivers
The following appointees serving Executive Branch agencies have received limited waivers from Designated Agency Ethics Officials (DAEOs) to the Ethics Pledge required by Executive Order 13490 of January 21, 2009.
Bolden, Charles
Breuer, Lanny A.
Carter, Ash
Holder, Eric
Ogden, David W.
Reitinger, Philip R.
Rogers, Margot
Shelton, James H.
Walker, Naomi
Williams, Aaron S.
This listing does not include White House issued waivers, which are maintained on the White House website.
Thanks LibFreeOrDie — you beat me to it.
And who exactly is it that determines the definition of compelling public interest?
Atty General Eric Holder is waived from the Ethics Pledge?!?!?!
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Wow, that’s convenient if you have a documentation issue.
Just because there is a wavier, doe not me WE can not investigate them and get the information we find out there...let’s work together on this folks.
*doe not me* should read “does not mean”, sorry about that. I do need to wear my glasses more when I type!
eric holder needed a waiver from conflict of interest, as Holder’s former law firm represents a defendant in a Fed action against the prosecutors in the Ted Stevens case.
Mr. Hopey Changey. What, you don’t trust him???
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