Federal News Radio: Former OGE director offering Congress ‘a la carte’ menu of transparency and ethics solutions
Walter Shaub might not be at the helm of the Office of Government Ethics, but he’s still steering a course for executive branch transparency.
Speaking at Wednesday’s congressional transparency caucus meeting, Shaub announced plans to present next week 13 legislative proposals to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, aimed at increasing transparency while reducing the reporting burden on federal agencies.
“I’ve intentionally packaged them as sort of an a la carte menu, because I think each of them would result in some improvement,” Shaub said. “I don’t want to make it difficult for [lawmakers] by saying you have to accept all of them or it’s a catastrophe. I’m putting forth 13, because I believe in all 13, but if they decide that there’s one that they like and one they go forward with, then we’re that much better off than we are right now in my view.”
Shaub said the proposals aim to strike a middle ground, which was important so that people wouldn’t consider them partisan issues.
...
Shaub, who now works at the Campaign Legal Center as its senior ethics director, mentioned that when CLC requested GSA’s copies of senior official travel reports, the agency instructed the center to file individual Freedom of Information requests with the more than 130 federal agencies.