The Confirmation Process

Presenters:

• Heather Jones, Senior Counsel, Office of Government Ethics. Ms. Jones reviews the financial interests of Presidential nominees to positions requiring Senate confirmation, consults on complicated reporting and conflicts of interest questions, and prepares substantive regulation and guidance documentation related to these issues.
  
• Ian Nicholson, Investigator, Senate Committee on Finance. Mr. Nicholson is an experienced Congressional Investigator with 7.5 years working for two Senate Committees on behalf of Senator Wyden (2013-2020).

The session was moderated by Justin Rood, former Director of POGO's Congressional Oversight Initiative.

Training Resources:

• Public Financial Disclosure Guide: The Public Financial Disclosure Guide is an interactive tool to assist individuals who file or review public financial disclosure reports (OGE Form 278e or OGE Form 278-T). The Guide offers helpful instructions, illustrations of sample language, definitions of terms, and plain-language answers to frequently asked questions. 
• Nominee Guide: ​OGE developed this Guide as a resource for potential Senate-confirmed, Presidential nominees. It is organized to take a nominee through the life cycle of a person who will serve as a Senate-confirmed Presidential appointee (PAS official). It includes sections explaining what to expect during the nominee process, how to have an ethical start to Federal service, how to be a leader in ethics, and what to consider when planning to leave Federal service. The appendix contains detailed reference information, such as instructions for Integrity and financial disclosure checklists.
• Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 278e)
• Guide for Analyzing Potential Conflicts of Interest: This collection of documents provides an asset-by-asset analysis of the potential conflicts of interest created by an asset or a position.