Interestingly enough, this comes from The New York Times:
By JACKIE CALMES
Published: November 12, 2008
NYTimes.com
For a Washington DC Job, Be Prepared to Tell All
WASHINGTON ? Want a top job in the Obama administration?
Only pack rats need apply, preferably those not packing controversy.
The New Team: Obama?s Inner Circle
A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect
Barack Obama to those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts
may be the most extensive ? some say invasive ? application ever.
The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional
records, some covering applicants? spouses and grown children as well,
that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in
shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their
achievements and missteps.
Only the smallest details are excluded; traffic tickets carrying fines of less
than $50 need not be reported, the application says.
Applicants are asked whether they or anyone in their family owns a gun.
They must include any e-mail that might embarrass the president-elect,
along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook pages.
The application also asks applicants to ?please list all aliases or ?handles?
you have used to communicate on the Internet.?
The vetting process for executive branch jobs has been onerous for
decades, with each incoming administration erecting new barriers in an
effort to avoid the mistakes of the past, or the controversies of the
present.
It is typically updated to reflect technological change (there was no
Facebook the last time a new president came to town).
But Mr. Obama has elevated the vetting even beyond what might have
been expected, especially when it comes to applicants? family members,
in a reflection of his campaign rhetoric against lobbying and the back-
scratching, self-serving ways of Washington.
?President-elect Obama made a commitment to change the way
Washington does business, and the vetting process exemplifies that,?
said Stephanie Cutter, chief spokeswoman for the Obama transition
office.
Jobs with the mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have
served as lucrative incubators for Democratic and Republican
administration officials. But those affiliations have become potentially
toxic since the government seized both companies after years of financial
irregularities that have stoked the economic crisis.
Not surprisingly, then, Question 18 of the Obama application asks
whether ?you, your spouse or any member of your immediate family?
have been affiliated with Fannie, Freddie, American International Group,
Washington Mutual and any other institution getting a government
bailout.
Under ?Domestic Help,? the questionnaire asks the immigration status of
applicants? housekeepers, nannies, chauffeurs and yard-workers, and
whether applicants have paid the required taxes for household
employees. (Those questions reflect controversies that tripped up
President Bill Clinton?s first two nominees for attorney general in 1993.)
?Every transition is cumulative,? said Michael Berman, a lawyer and
lobbyist who worked in the transitions of both Mr. Clinton and President
Jimmy Carter.
After reviewing the Obama application, Mr. Berman added, ?I am very
happy I am not seeking a job in the federal government.?
A former Clinton White House official who insisted on anonymity said in an
e-mail message, ?I believe it is considerably more detailed than we had
to fill out in ?93. Interesting that they want spouse information on
everything ? means lots of folks are going to have to list the very
prominent ? and controversial ? companies that their spouses
work/lobby for.?
The first question asks applicants not just for a r?sum?, but for every
r?sum? and biographical statement issued by them or others for the past
10 years ? a likely safeguard against r?sum? falsehoods, one Clinton
administration veteran said.
Most information must cover at least the past decade, including the names
of anyone applicants lived with; a chronological list of activities for which
applicants were paid; real estate and loans over $10,000, and their
terms, for applicants and spouses; net worth statements submitted for
loans, and organization memberships ? in particular, memberships in
groups that have discriminated on the basis of race, sex, disability,
ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.
There are no time limits for some information, including liens, tax audits,
lawsuits, legal charges, bankruptcies or arrests. Applicants must report
all businesses with which they and their spouses have been affiliated or in
which they have had a financial stake of more than 5 percent.
All gifts over $50 that they and their spouses have received from anyone
other than close friends or relatives must be identified.
Just in case the previous 62 questions do not ferret out any potential
controversy, the 63rd is all-encompassing: ?Please provide any other
information, including information about other members of your family,
that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of
embarrassment to you, your family, or the president-elect.?
The answer could duplicate the response to Question 8: ?Briefly describe
the most controversial matters you have been involved with during the
course of your career.?
For those who clear all the hurdles, the reward could be the job they
wanted. But first there will be more forms, for security and ethics
clearances from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of
Government Ethics.
Awesome. Very smart. His group is doing very well to prevent the mistakes of predecessors and to have the most honest and crime-controversy free admin ever. He doesn't want there to be any issues that can trip up the business of helping us to rebuild. This will be most frustrating to those that want to try and drag and slow him down along the way.
If this is bullship, which it may or may not be then
If this is real then wow.
Looks like he wants to know who is real sleeze and who is a poser. I would want to know who I am hiring too. I see nothing wrong with that. And if anyone has a problem answering the questions he poses, they have the problem, not him. And like with the gun question, that is his right to like or dislike that too. I don't want to lose mine, but that may not be his plan.
I hope he picks hard working people that want to help fix our nation and make things better for all.................once and for all.
I honestly think that he's not crooked in any way and won't be. I just don't see that happening.
Palin To Join Obama Administration?
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) ? Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Wednesday she would be honored to help out President-elect Barack Obama in his new administration, even if he did hang around with an "unrepentant domestic terrorist."
Watch: I will help Obama, says Palin
The Alaska governor said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer that if Obama asked her for help on some of the issues she highlighted during this year's campaign, such as energy or services for special-needs children, "It would be my honor to assist and support our new president and the new administration."
"And I speak for other Republicans and Republican governors, also," said Palin, whom Sen. John McCain tapped as his running mate in August. "They would be willing also to seize this opportunity that we have to progress this nation together, in a united front."
But asked moments later about some of the tough rhetoric she hurled from the stump, she said she was "still concerned" about Obama's ties to former Weather Underground member-turned-Chicago college professor William Ayers.
"If anybody still wants to talk about it, I will," she said. "Because this is an unrepentant domestic terrorist who had campaigned to blow up, to destroy our Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol.
"That's an association that still bothers me, and I think it's fair to still talk about it," she continued. "However the campaign is over. That chapter is closed. Now is the time to move on and make sure all of us are doing all that we can to progress this nation."
Big Blue Owl wrote:Palin To Join Obama Administration?
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) ? Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Wednesday she would be honored to help out President-elect Barack Obama in his new administration, even if he did hang around with an "unrepentant domestic terrorist."
Watch: I will help Obama, says Palin
The Alaska governor said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer that if Obama asked her for help on some of the issues she highlighted during this year's campaign, such as energy or services for special-needs children, "It would be my honor to assist and support our new president and the new administration."
In the spirit of Glasnost, Obama should take her up on it.
Seriously...You know, taking her in would be a really cool and bipartisan
gesture on Obama's behalf.
However, it's becoming clearer that "Rahmbo" will have none of that.
It's gonna be a long four years....y'all pull up a chair and take a load off.
I have to disagree, buddy. Hussein wants no garbage, fluff or useless baggage in his admin. To hire her would be to go against everything he stands for as an intelligent, serious advocate for us. He wouldn't do that just to prove that he doesn't think she is a waste of space. Just like not getting a pound puppy (daughter needs hypoallergenic pet) or sending his kids to DC public school.
And he's not desperate or fragile in the noggin like McCain when he hired her willy-nilly and without checking her out.
It would be fun to see her in the employ of Larry Flynt, though. I think she is hiding her best attributes and assets.
