Coalition Urges Presidential Candidates to Adopt Good Government Policies

In letters to Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, a coalition of NGOs urged the presidential candidates to adopt good-government policies in the next administration. In the first letter, the coalition called on the nominees to adopt a rigorous code of ethics for their presidential transition teams. Citing then-Senator Obama’s 2008 transition code of ethics, the coalition urged the candidates to prohibit individuals with lobbying ties and financial conflicts of interest from working in the administration. A second coalition letter called on the next president to adopt stronger policies on government record keeping. The next president, wrote the coalition, “can demonstrate commitment to strengthening records accountability within the federal government” by directing agencies to comply with the Office of Management and Budget’s 2012 government records directive, implement agency-wide record keeping training, develop open records plans, and abide by strict reporting deadlines.