Tag: Office of Government Ethics

Ethics expert details the scandals in the White House’s new list of staff salaries

AlterNet logoWalter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics who resigned in protest under President Donald Trump, has been a dogged critic of the administration as it flagrantly defies basic standards of behavior for the executive branch. And in a new Twitter thread on Friday, Shaub combed through the new list of White House staff salaries — which show that not only do violations not trigger punishments, but they don’t even hinder raises.

He pointed out, for instance, that newly named White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham — who used to do PR for the first lady — got a promotion and raise, despite having violated the Hatch Act.

Walter Shaub

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2019 White House salaries was just posted.https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/July-1-2019-Report-FINAL.pdf …

Walter Shaub

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Looks like Stephanie Grisham’s punishment for violating the Hatch Act was a $28,000 pay raise. That’ll teach her.

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But Grisham is still in the junior varsity league when it comes to violating the Hatch Act. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, on the other hand, has gone pro — she seems to think violating the law, which bars federal employees from electioneering, is part of her job. Trump’s own appointee to the Office of Special Counsel called for her firing, saying her brazen violations of the law were “unprecedented.”

View the complete June 28 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

Former White House ethics chief balks at Trump’s pick for acting director

The following article by Julia Horowitz and Cristina Alesci was posted on the CNN Money website July 22, 2017:

President Trump has tapped a new acting head of the Office of Government Ethics, prompting criticism from the agency’s previous director who resigned this week after clashing with the White House on ethics issues.

“It’s unfortunate that the White House decided to play politics with the interim director role,” Walter Shaub, who stepped down on Wednesday, said in a statement.

Trump has picked David Apol, who has served as OGE’s general counsel since 2014, to lead the department until he selects a permanent director. In doing so, he passed over Shelley Finlayson, Shaub’s number two, was in line to be acting director.

The Office of Government Ethics, which helps administer the executive branch’s ethics program, has seen its profile heightened in recent months. Shaub frequently clashed with the Trump White House. Continue reading “Former White House ethics chief balks at Trump’s pick for acting director”

Power struggle intensifies between White House and ethics office

The following article by Matea Gold was posted on the Washington Post website May 22, 2017:

Walter M. Shaub Jr., head of the Office of Government Ethics, has repeatedly been at odds with the White House. (Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM/National Law Journal)

White House officials are seeking to stop the federal government’s top ethics officer from getting details about waivers granted to lobbyists and other appointees working in the admin­istration, intensifying a power struggle between President Trump and the ethics agency.

Walter M. Shaub Jr., director of the Office of Government Ethics, sent a memo in April to the White House and federal agencies asking for information about such waivers. Continue reading “Power struggle intensifies between White House and ethics office”