Ethics chief outlines appointments process fixes

Streamlining the presidential appointments process will require a legislative fix to the Ethics in Government Act and a simplified financial disclosure system, Amy Comstock, director of the Office of Government Ethics, said Thursday. Comstock testified at a Senate Governmental Affairs committee hearing called by chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., to explore the much-criticized presidential appointments process, which includes financial background reports, FBI checks and congressional hearings. Under the Presidential Transition Act of 2000, which was passed in November, the Office of Government Ethics developed a series of proposals for easing the burden of financial disclosure on executive branch nominees. "The confirmation process has grown increasingly complex over the years, so that today it is viewed by many as being unnecessarily complicated and unduly burdensome for people being considered for presidential appointments," Comstock testified. The recommendations focus largely on the financial disclosure system and ways to reduce the reams of duplicative paperwork involved in appointments. Comstock and other witnesses testified that current public financial disclosure forms ask for more information than is needed and seem to focus on the net worth of nominees rather than the potential for conflicts of interest. "It is neither necessary nor desirable to require every filer to provide details for every asset that is reported, whether or not that asset presents a potential conflict [of interest]," Comstock said. According to Comstock, Congress should amend the Ethics in Government Act in order to reduce the number of valuation categories, lessen some reporting timeframes, limit the scope of reporting by raising certain dollar thresholds, reduce details that are unnecessary for determining conflicts of interest and eliminate redundant reporting. The Office of Government Ethics' recommendations complement an 11-point proposal unveiled Thursday by the Brookings Institution's Presidential Appointee Initiative, a project started in 1999 to help nominees through the appointments process. Brookings' proposals included establishing a permanent Office of Presidential Personnel and requiring agencies, departments and Senate committees to simplify and standardize forms, reduce the number of positions subject to "full-field" FBI investigations, reduce the number of Senate appointees who have to be confirmed by the Senate and limit Senate "holds" or delays on nominee confirmations to a maximum of 14 days. "I hope we get busy and do some of this stuff," said Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. "I do think it is important for the leaders of the Senate to take responsibility to ensure that these things are handled in an expeditious way."