Here’s a tale of two agencies. The Trump appointee leading @US_OSC, Henry Kerner, was a partisan bulldog for republican members of Congress. He refuses to speak publicly about the bad ethical culture of the White House—except to DEFEND a Hatch Act violation in the Rose Garden. /1

As a result, White House staffers covered by the Hatch Act are tweeting about Trump’s remarks at a campaign rally. Sure @US_OSC recommended Kellyanne Conway’s firing, but she left them no choice. And Kerner reuses to seek monetary fines against her. /2

The WH counsel said Kerner only went after her because she defied his authority personally. I’m not entirely sure that’s untrue. And what the public doesn’t know is that, under Kerner, @US_OSC is rejecting many other slam dunk Hatch Act complaints against Trump appointees. /3

Meanwhile, Kerner has @US_OSC going vigorously after career-level Feds, who are more likely to support Biden. He also said they can be fired for Tweeting “resist” on a lunch break, though his agency has said Tea Party activity while ON DUTY is fine. /4

Kerner insists his role is only that of investigator. He fails to see that @US_OSC should assume a leadership role when it comes to Hatch Act and whistleblower protection violations. The result has been m the unchallenged collapse of Hatch Act compliance by Trump appointees. /5

Now let’s contrast @US_OSC with @OfficeGovEthics. Under the leadership of a Trump-appointed acting Director and a Trump-appointee Director, OGE has spoken out about ethics violations. It announced it would not certify the financial disclosures of Pruitt, Mnuchin and Ross. /6

It publicly announced that it referred Donald Trump to the Justice Dept for omitting a debt for the Stormy Daniels hush money payment. It has issued statements about the need for a stronger ethical culture. In other words, it has taken a leadership role @US_OSC fails to take. /7

Has @OfficeGovEthics succeeded in making this administration ethical? No. Not by a mile. If it had the power to do that I would have stayed another 6 months until the end of my term. But it is not going-along-to-get-along the way @US_OSC is. OGE has put down a marker in time. /8

OGE has treated career officials the same as political appointees—something @US_OSC under Kerner cannot claim it has done. And there have been some victories. The available evidence seems to indicate OGE forced Louis DeJoy to divest his XPO stock this week. That is something. /9

When people who study government look back at his time, @OfficeGovEthics Director Emory Rounds will be a case study in making the best of too little power, and @US_OSC’s Henry Kerner will be a case study in a failure of management and a failure of nerve. Take note, America. /10