Some context:
Today, a leading candidate to be Timothy Geithner's deputy at the Department of the Treasury withdrew his
name from consideration. Another leading candidate, that is. We don't
even know the identities of potential candidates for 18 of 20 major
open Treasury positions. What's going on? The official word from the
administration is that these potential nominees had "vetting
problems." That obscures, I believe, what's really happening. A
vetting problem implies some deep secret or shame, like having a second
family in Nebraska. But the reality is that, in a lot of cases, the
potential nominee decides that the requirements foisted upon them by
the vetting process are just too much to bear. Remember, a lot of these
nominees are upper middle class folks, and they've seen their
retirement accounts dwindle. They have families, send their kids to
private schools, and have some equity in their homes. They, like
everyone else, have reason to worry about having a solid financial
nest-egg. Anything that would rock the boat...anything that could hurt
their families....would be something they'd think twice before agreeing
to go through. The standards, especially for Treasury officials, are
incredibly high -- maybe too high.
For example: nominees are required to give their vetters a receipt for
every charitable deduction they've claimed in recent years.... This is
tripping up people who've claimed lots of deductions. Nominees have
been asked, in some cases, to divest themselves of large parts of their
financial portfolios. Spouses have been asked to leave jobs and unwind
partnerships.