WARNING: GOP Rushing Cabinet Hearings Without Ethics Reviews (VIDEO)

Just one week ago, the Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a middle of the night bill to take power away from the Office of Government Ethics (OGE).  The public outcry was so swift and so sharp that they had to take it back, but now we have an idea of what they were up to.

Today the Hill is reporting that Walter Shaub, Jr, the head of the OGE, sent a warning to key Democrats in Congress. Shaub wrote a letter stating that the Republicans are trying to rush through the confirmation process on Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees.

He wrote:

“As OGE’s director, the announced hearing schedule for several nominees who have not completed the ethics review process is of great concern to me.”

You see, the Office of Government Ethics was established back in 1978 under an Act that was designed to find and expose ethics violations before candidates are appointed to key positions. The law requires that any presidential appointee requiring Senate approval must file financial and employment disclosures with the OGE. The process is time consuming, as each candidate must be investigated by the Office before their nomination can be confirmed.

For the first time in almost 40 years, nominees were announced before the OGE had completed its work. Usually the candidates have been vetted and cleared of any ethics violations before their names go public.

Not this time, though. This time the GOP wants to move as quickly as possibly.

Some of the most controversial cabinet picks, including Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State and Sen. Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, are scheduled to begin confirmation hearings in a few days.

Tillerson’s long time ties to Russia and his financial relationship with Exxon are areas of considerable concern to the OGE and to Democrats in the Senate.

It’s important to note that Walter Shaub is an appointee of President Barack Obama. It’s also true that some of Obama’s nominees were confirmed quickly.

Still, it is suspicious to see that the GOP intends to push through confirmations of people who haven’t been cleared of conflicts of interest or other ethics violations. We have to wonder what it is that these people may have to hide.

The Democrats agree. Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, has responded to the letter sent this morning. On behalf of the Democrats in the Senate, she is calling for a delay in the hearings. She said:

“These rushed hearings must be delayed until the ethics reviews are finished, and if Trump and the GOP-led Senate fail to do so, the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn is that they are concerned about what will be exposed.”

Here is a discussion of the GOP’s attempt to gut the OGE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1EKWmypnK4

Featured image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Karen is a retired elementary school teacher with many years of progressive activism behind her. She is the proud mother of three young adults who were all arrested with Occupy Wall Street. To see what she writes about in her spare time, check out her blog at "Empty Nest, Full Life"