To The Victors Go The Spoils
One of the most sacrosanct of traditions in this country is that of according the victor of an election the right to appoint his or her friends to government positions, thereby ensuring that the newly elected has a compatible team to work with. The spoils system need not be inherently bad: a wise leader appoints friends with the credentials, experience, and integrity to do the jobs. That's the theory. The reality is that the spoils system almost inevitably leads to corruption, and the current US administration is the perfect illustration of that reality.
Without much Congressional oversight for the past six years, the Interior Department, the Justice Department, and the State Department have all come under investigation for various forms of corruption, and the current Democratic-led Congress has been in session for only four months.
The latest government department to come under scrutiny for such corruption is the Department of Education, according to an article in today's NY Times.
The inspector general of the federal Education Department has opened an investigation into potential conflicts of interest at the agency that may have led to what lawmakers have characterized as lax oversight of the student loan industry. ...
...Democratic lawmakers have increasingly focused on the Department of Education and on members of its staff who came from loan companies. ...
Several department officials have ties to the loan industry. Three officials in the department’s Federal Student Aid Office — Theresa S. Shaw, its head; Stanley Dore; and Mariana O’Brien — all worked at Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest student lender. Ms. Shaw worked there for nearly 20 years.
Matteo Fontana, a former director of systems development at Sallie Mae, became general manager of the office that oversees a database with financial information on student borrowers. Mr. Fontana was put on leave by the department after his ownership of $100,000 in stock in a different student lender was disclosed.
Michael Sutphin, director of financial industry alliances at Sallie Mae until 2002, is state agency liaison officer at the department, according to his disclosure forms. When Mr. Sutphin joined the department, he held at least $50,001 in Sallie Mae stock, which he reported in 2005 that he had sold the preceding year, before a promotion that required him to work closely with lenders. ...
Eugene W. Hickok Jr., a former deputy secretary at the department, in March agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty because he held stock in Bank of America in what federal prosecutors in Washington said was a violation of conflict of interest rules.
The conflict of interest with respect to continued financial holdings in student loan companies the department is supposed to be regulating is obvious. What should be just as obvious, however, is the conflict of interest which arises when an appointee comes from the industry to be regulated and has the opportunity to return to that industry after the government job has ended. What incentive does the appointee have to do the job properly, to serve the interests of all Americans, and not just corporations?
The mess at the Department of Education is just part of the epidemic of corruption that has arisen under this administration, but it has been enabled by the spoils system. At some point, Congress needs to step back and look at the larger picture and do something about it.
Without much Congressional oversight for the past six years, the Interior Department, the Justice Department, and the State Department have all come under investigation for various forms of corruption, and the current Democratic-led Congress has been in session for only four months.
The latest government department to come under scrutiny for such corruption is the Department of Education, according to an article in today's NY Times.
The inspector general of the federal Education Department has opened an investigation into potential conflicts of interest at the agency that may have led to what lawmakers have characterized as lax oversight of the student loan industry. ...
...Democratic lawmakers have increasingly focused on the Department of Education and on members of its staff who came from loan companies. ...
Several department officials have ties to the loan industry. Three officials in the department’s Federal Student Aid Office — Theresa S. Shaw, its head; Stanley Dore; and Mariana O’Brien — all worked at Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest student lender. Ms. Shaw worked there for nearly 20 years.
Matteo Fontana, a former director of systems development at Sallie Mae, became general manager of the office that oversees a database with financial information on student borrowers. Mr. Fontana was put on leave by the department after his ownership of $100,000 in stock in a different student lender was disclosed.
Michael Sutphin, director of financial industry alliances at Sallie Mae until 2002, is state agency liaison officer at the department, according to his disclosure forms. When Mr. Sutphin joined the department, he held at least $50,001 in Sallie Mae stock, which he reported in 2005 that he had sold the preceding year, before a promotion that required him to work closely with lenders. ...
Eugene W. Hickok Jr., a former deputy secretary at the department, in March agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty because he held stock in Bank of America in what federal prosecutors in Washington said was a violation of conflict of interest rules.
The conflict of interest with respect to continued financial holdings in student loan companies the department is supposed to be regulating is obvious. What should be just as obvious, however, is the conflict of interest which arises when an appointee comes from the industry to be regulated and has the opportunity to return to that industry after the government job has ended. What incentive does the appointee have to do the job properly, to serve the interests of all Americans, and not just corporations?
The mess at the Department of Education is just part of the epidemic of corruption that has arisen under this administration, but it has been enabled by the spoils system. At some point, Congress needs to step back and look at the larger picture and do something about it.
Labels: Cronyism, Education Department
posted by Diane at 5:33 AM
2 Comments:
Here in NYS, Andrew Cuomo, our new AG, is taking the student loan issue on headfirst.
Sure, the U.S. Department of Education, Inspector General, John Higgins promises to look into things now, but he was already tasked to do so through annual OIG workplans, via the ITACCI (Information Technology Audits and Computer Crimes Investigation) Division. However, ITACCI members Charles Coe and Kenneth Sardegna were too lazy to do so, and now Theresa Shaw is getting all the blame. Want proof? Just do a FOIA request of the last few year's ED-OIG workplans; contact Tara Porter 202-245-6588.
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