Thread: Did you know that every political appointee requiring confirmation by the Senate enters into an ethics agreement committing to comply with ethics requirements? That includes members of the cabinet, other agency heads, some deputies and other high level officials.
In these agreements, senior administration officials promise to take actions to avoid conflicts of interest.
It is common for officials to agree to sell (or divest, in lawyer-speak), potentially conflicting assets. An agreement to divest looks something like this: 
You can see these agreements for the most senior appointees here: extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden.n…
So, how do we know to ask appointees to agree to sell potentially conflicting assets?
Appointees are required to disclose their financial holdings, business arrangements, and other financial information using an OGE Form 278e. The page describing an appointee’s holdings looks like this:
You can see theses financial disclosures for the most senior appointees here: extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden.n…
So, how do we confirm that these officials have kept their ethics commitments? We’ve always required them to tell us, in writing, when they have taken the required actions. They now use a form that looks like this:
This form is relatively new, so you may not see it for all officials, but the most recent appointees will have one and they are available here: extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden.n…
These documents are publicly available to ensure accountability and enable public trust in government decision-making. Take a look. Ask questions./Thread
Postscript: Some of you asked what prevents someone from falsifying or willfully omitting information from a financial disclosure report.
For one, there are criminal penalties for falsification. For example (pdf): oge.gov/Web/oge.nsf/0/…
And, the documents are publicly available, so interested citizens can scrutinize them and raise concerns. extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden.n…
As a citizen, you are encouraged to review the reports of high level officials. It is our job to help you access them and understand their contents. /Postscript
