WHY AM I NOT SHOCKED? – AT 12:50 P.M. ET:    My, how the mighty have fallen.  I'm always amused by these "ethics experts," and how they often turn out to be mere mortals.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

Director of the Office of Government Ethics Walter M. Shaub donated to President Obama before his appointment and defended Hillary Clinton’s decision to not disclose paid speeches to the Clinton Foundation while she was secretary of state.

Shaub, the head of the little-known ethics office, has been on the attack against President-elect Donald J. Trump for months.

Shaub has called Trump’s plan to sign over control of his business to his sons “meaningless,” and engaged in tweet storms from the official ethics Twitter account encouraging Trump to divest.

A timeline compiled by the PAC America Rising of Shaub’s service at the ethics office revealed Shaub donated to Obama before his appointment in January 2013, and has a record of defending Hillary Clinton when she was a presidential candidate from ethics concerns.

Shaub donated $500 to Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012. When Clinton came under fire for not disclosing paid speeches to the Clinton Foundation while she was secretary of state, his office said disclosure was not required.

Shaub has now become a “key player” in the presidential transition process, as his office is responsible for reviewing financial disclosures of executive nominees. He sent a letter to Senate Democrats urging the slowing of the confirmation process of Trump’s nominees because some of their financial disclosure reviews had not been completed.

This week Shaub trained his sights on Trump, criticizing the president-elect’s plan to avoid conflicts of interest by signing over control to his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and terminating all pending deals with the Trump organization.

COMMENT:  But you buy a used ethics plan from this guy?  Seems he's just a partisan pol pretending to be the voice of God.

I have no problem with the press quoting Shaub, as long as reporters include the man's partisan past.  Then consumers of news can make their own ethics judgments.

January 15, 2017