WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Two new presidential appointees have been added to the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT)’s ethics waiver tracker.
Elizabeth A. Eurgubian received a waiver to serve as director of the Office of External Affairs and Communications (OEAC) for the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and Raina Thiele, senior advisor for Alaskan Affairs and Strategic Priorities at the Department of the Interior, was granted a waiver to participate in specific party matters involving three former clients of her consulting business, according to a press release.
“We found they were on the Office of Government Ethics website,” said Michael Chamberlain, director of PPT. “That's one of the ways that we are able to acquire the waivers that we post on our ethics waiver tracker. We also obtain documents from the agencies themselves via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and other means that provide us with the various types of waivers that are granted to high-level officials in the executive branch.”
Ergubian previously worked as a lobbyist for the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).
“She needed a waiver because she was a lobbyist for an entity and organization that lobbied the NCUA,” Chamberlain told Legal Newsline. “She would not have been able to have that position had she not been granted the waiver. The Biden Ethics Pledge prohibits employees from working at the agencies that they lobbied prior to joining the administration.”
In his first month in office in January of 2021, President Biden signed an executive order outlining ethics rules for appointees designated during his administration.
“When someone's granted a waiver, you have to look at their former employment and look at their qualifications,” Chamberlain said. “Are they truly unique in that position? Are they uniquely qualified to be in that job? Because if you look at the DC area, there are lots of lobbyists and lawyers. They call it the swamp for a reason.”
Thiele’s waiver is being monitored by PPT because she worked in the Department of Interior during former President Barack Obama’s administration, according to Chamberlain.
“After the Obama administration was out, she went and created a consulting firm,” he said. “At least three of her clients had significant business in front of the Department of the Interior while she represented them.”
Those clients included the National Congress of American Indians, the Bristol Bay Native corporation and the Alaska Native Heritage Center.
"The waiver was necessary for her to be able to perform the job that she was appointed to because otherwise, she could possibly have participated in matters that involved her former clients,” Chamberlain added. “In some cases, there are lobbyists and lawyers who have certain past experiences that people may question if their qualifications are really so unique for this position considering that in D.C. lobbyists and lawyers and consultants are pretty prevalent.”