Controversy Over Ethics Pledge Waivers

A Politico story discusses the controversy over waivers of the Obama ethics pledge. Here's an excerpt:

Robert Cusick, director of the Office of Government Ethics, told POLITICO he did not know definitively how many ethics waivers had been granted, but he said “there’s been no great surge of waivers.”

Unlike waivers, which have to be approved by White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen and are on file at the White House, letters of recusal are kept at the agency employing the official and are more difficult to track, Cusick said.

Cusick, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2006 to a five-year term, said Obama’s ethics order has taxed his agency’s capacity. “We have quite a number of things that we’re required to do under the ethics executive order, which we’re still gearing up for,” he said.

Nonetheless, he disagreed with Grassley’s contention that the administration has not lived up to its promises of openness when it comes to the ethics order.

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