A day after four congressional leaders asked the Government Accountability Office to examine political appointees "burrowing in" to career positions, the Senior Executives Association has expressed support for more oversight.
"Burrowing in" is a colloquial term for converting political appointees to federal civil service positions. Sens. Ron Johnson, R.-Wisc. and John Thune, R.-S.D.; and Reps. Fred Upton, R.-Mich.; and Jason Chaffetz, R.-Utah, wrote to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro on Nov. 30 asking that the GAO examine the practice. . Chaffetz is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Related: Read the GAO letter
The practice is legal, so long as the appointees are not given competitive advantages when applying for career jobs in the civil service, but the foursome requested greater oversight, noting that the GAO issued its last review of conversions in 2010.
SEA interim president Tim Dirks sent a letter praising the inquiry, saying that a lack of review could lead to favoritism in pursuing highly coveted senior executive jobs.
"We have seen some cases where political employees or candidates for employment are placed in Senior Executive positions for which they may be unqualified or less qualified than other candidates, or where their service as political appointees was given undue weight," Dirks said in the letter. "Most of those experienced with the federal personnel system understand that this can be attempted through hiring actions with limited competitive areas of consideration, short announcement times and narrowly defined statements of required technical qualifications. Political influence and pressure can also contribute non-meritorious selections."
The Office of Personnel Management requires any political appointee who has worked for the administration within the last five years to obtain written authorization in order to apply for a SES position.
The congressmen asked the GAO to review of all conversions occurring between June 1, 2009, and Oct. 1, 2015, including the salaries and positions of the conversions and if any agencies failed to follow appropriate procedures.
The SEA president made note of the internal protections agencies had in place to prevent the politicization of the hiring process, including Quality Review Boards, but also welcomed the review to make sure those policies were effective.
"We fully understand that some political appointees who make the switch to the career civil service may be the best candidates for the position, and believe that providing transparency and sunlight to the conversion process can aid in preventing its abuse," Dirks said of the proposed review.
This also comes as the Obama administration weighs an executive order to reform the SES, a move the SEA welcomes, but has also provided suggestions for.
"While SEA supports actions to streamline and make more efficient and effective the QRB and SES hiring process, we believe that this process must focus on preserving merit and not be changed in such a way as to possibly accommodate burrowing in and conversions of non-qualified political appointees into the career civil service," Dirks said.
The draft executive order has been distributed to agencies to review and comment.
