By ROBERT BRODSKY, Government Executive
Bush administration political appointees at the Defense Department have until the end of the week to sign President Obama's ethics pledge, or they will be asked to resign, according to internal correspondence.
In an April 7 e-mail, Robert Rangel, special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, gave all Bush holdovers until the close of business on Friday to sign the agreement, which puts restrictions on post-government employment.
Politicos who refuse to comply will be required to leave their position by the end of April.
"Those who choose not to sign the ethics pledge and leave before April 30, 2009 (or those who choose to sign the pledge and are replaced after April 30, 2009), will be asked to submit their resignations, and the department will treat their separations as involuntary," Rangel wrote.
Continue reading DoD Gives Ethics Ultimatum To Bush Holdovers.
President Obama offered the nation a mea culpa this week after two highly placed nominees bowed out over tax trouble, but that didn't end the talk about how his campaign rhetoric promising a cleaner Washington has held up during his presidency. National Journal this week asked Political Insiders and top political bloggers how much damage has been done to Obama's image by the controversies surrounding Tom Daschle, Timothy Geithner and William Lynn.
A plurality of Democratic Insiders and a majority of left-leaning bloggers said Obama's image has sustained "only a little" damage, with "some" damage a strong second. "Obama, having made rookie mistakes, has owned up to them, which is the best way to make them go away quickly," said David Kravitz of Blue Mass. Group, who voted for "only a little" damage. However, one Democratic Insider who voted the same way cautioned, "If the policies he is identified with work, these are footnotes. If the policies don't work, these become part of a new narrative."
Pluralities of Republican Insiders and right-leaning bloggers agreed Obama has seen "some" damage. Second place among the Insiders was "only a little," but second for the bloggers was "a great deal." One Republican Insider said, "Outside the Beltway, it is chipping away at the perception that President Obama is above the fray. Inside the Beltway, it undermines the sense that his team does not make careless mistakes." David Kopel of The Volokh Conspiracy, writing about Daschle, argued that "it helps Obama in the long run that he will not be in the Cabinet, since he would have been a visible link between the administration and the Rangel/Dodd/Frank congressional culture of corruption."
By MARY GILBERT
In one of his first acts as president, Barack Obama today signed two Executive Orders and three Presidential Memoranda at a briefing in front of several dozen staff members at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, with the purpose of keeping his campaign promises to increase transparency and openness in government.
In a move that may take some of the new members of his administration by surprise, Obama announced that he is freezing the pay of his top White House staffers. He thanked those affected -- staffers making over $100,000 -- for their willingness to agree to the freeze, saying that it was a mark of their commitment to public service and a recognition of the tough economic times facing the country. "Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington," he said.
The new president is also setting new rules for lobbyists, saying as he did on the campaign trail that it's time to "close the revolving door" between the White House and K Street. "We need to make the White House the people's house," Obama said, mandating that lobbyists will be subject to stricter ethics restrictions under his administration than any other in history. The rules he put forth today establish a two-year window for lobbyists entering or exiting the administration. Lobbyists who go to work for Obama will "not be able to work on matters you lobbied on or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years," while anyone who leaves the administration will not be able to lobby the government for the duration of Obama's tenure in the White House.
Lobbyists are not the only ones facing new limitations, however. All of those who choose to serve under Obama's administration will be required to commit in writing to new ethics rules, the president revealed. And a strict ban on gifts from lobbyists has been set for all executive branch employees.
Obama went on to put government agencies on notice that his administration will take a new approach to the Freedom of Information Act. For too long, "there's been too much secrecy in this city," the president said, insisting that the government should live by the spirit -- not the letter -- of this law and make information available to the public whenever possible. He promised to follow the same standard himself, reiterating that "transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency."
Obama acknowledged that the executive orders he signed today will not, on their own, make government as "honest" as it needs to be. But he expressed his hope that they would "mark the beginning of a new era of openness in our country" and increase public confidence in government. "That's a pretty good place to start," he concluded.
