Government Executive
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“Not all ethics waivers are bad,” said a former director of the Office of Government Ethics.
Soon after taking the oath of office in January, President Biden issued a sweeping ethics pledge for executive branch personnel. But shortly thereafter, the administration granted waivers to two labor leaders to allow them to serve in senior positions, drawing the ire of some conservatives along with charges of hypocrisy. “Labor’s sizable personnel presence in the administration is driving policy,”
Axios reported on Friday. “And the president’s appointment of top union officials to senior posts gives those unions powerful voices in the federal bureaucracy — even at the cost of strictly adhering to his own stringent ethics standards.”