Ethics for the D.C. Ethicists
Wall Street Journal
Kimberley Strassel
July 14, 2017
"We interrupt this week’s Don Jr. loop to tell a tale of a real ethics scandal. It’s one perpetrated not by the Trump administration, but by the man atop Washington’s ethics-industrial complex: Walter Shaub.
"If you’ve never heard of Mr. Shaub, you soon will. He is resigning as director of the Office of Government Ethics—effective next week—so that he can continue more publicly the war he’s been waging against the administration internally since last fall …
"Mr. Shaub was already playing the indignant watchdog on Sunday, as he explained his resignation on ABC’s 'This Week.' He complained that the White House was consistently 'challenging OGE’s authority to carry out its routine and most basic functions.' Understanding those 'functions' is critical to realizing the Shaub drama is so much grandstanding.
"The OGE isn’t a watchdog or an inspector general’s office. As its own website makes clear, it doesn’t adjudicate complaints, investigate ethics violations, or prosecute misconduct. Rather, it was set up in 1978 to help the White House. Its job is to 'advise' and to 'assist' the executive branch in navigating complex ethical questions, a job undoubtedly more frustrating and messy under President Trump. Nonetheless, Mr. Shaub’s attempt to act as ethics czar, to ride herd on the Trump operation, is outside his office’s mission. It’s the act of a pious political operator who doesn’t like this president.
"Only weeks after the election, as speculation swirled about how Mr. Trump would handle the ethical complexity of his business dealings while president, Mr. Shaub was already trolling, posting a series of sarcastic tweets about divestiture to the Office of Government Ethics’ official account. When Mr. Trump released his plan for his assets, Mr. Shaub blasted it at a public event with press in attendance …
"Mr. Shaub also ginned up outrage over a blanket waiver to the Trump ethics pledge—a waiver allowing staffers to communicate more freely with the media. Never mind that Mr. Trump was under no obligation to create the pledge in the first place ...
"... But wait for the howls when Mr. Trump appoints as the OGE’s acting head someone who isn’t a Shaub-like showboater and who tries to return the office to its core mission. The left and media will skewer him or her as a sellout.
"As for Mr. Shaub, he’s taking a job with the liberal Campaign Legal Center to push for greater OGE powers ..."
To read more, click here.
White House Agenda Read more press releases
