美国国家公共电台 NPR Ethics Office Director Walter Shaub Resigns, Saying Rules Need To Be Tougher

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The head of the federal agency that guides presidents and top officials on ethics¹ rules is resigning. Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub Jr. began dueling² with Donald Trump³ even before Trump became president. They haven't been able to agree on how or even whether the Trump administration must comply with federal ethics laws. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

PETER OVERBY, BYLINE⁴: Walter Shaub announced his resignation on Twitter. He posted an image of his letter to President Trump. It says public employees have to, quote, "place loyalty⁵ to the Constitution, the laws and ethical⁶ principles above private gain." White House Spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said the White House, quote, "accepts Mr. Shaub's resignation and appreciates his service." It's a long way from last December when Shaub tried to persuade the incoming president to divest⁸ his hundreds of companies. He tried using a tweet storm, then a speech at a think tank's session on ethics.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WALTER SHAUB JR: The president-elect must show those in government and those coming into government after his inauguration⁹ that ethics matters.

OVERBY: Trump didn't divest. Unlike any previous presidents, he owns companies worldwide and the conflicts of interest they present. But that was hardly the only ethics battle between Shaub in the White House. The Office of Government Ethics urged new cabinet members to sell off assets that would cause conflicts of interest. It pressured the White House to publish the personal financial disclosure of top aides, which is supposed to be public by law. Shaub pushed for White House records of ethics waivers for appointees with conflicts. Norm Eisen is a former ethics counsel in the Obama administration and now a strong critic of President Trump.

NORM EISEN: OGE held the president accountable, and I think Walt gets a lot of credit for that.

OVERBY: To almost everyone's surprise, many citizens really cared. OGE started getting calls, letters, emails, Twitter followers¹⁰. Here's Shaub in an April interview with NPR.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

SHAUB JR: We've even had a couple days where the volume was so huge it filled up the voicemail box, and we couldn't clear the calls as fast as they were coming in.

OVERBY: But at the same time, the White House controversies¹¹ have cast a shadow over the federal ethics laws themselves. This is Danielle Brian, head of the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight¹².

DANIELLE BRIAN: Previous administrations have sort of cared a lot about trying to do something about a violation¹³ of those conflicts of interest standards, and we have an administration now that honestly doesn't care.

OVERBY: Brian said she used to assume existing laws were good enough to let people see whether or not the president had conflicts of interest.

BRIAN: It turns out that the laws don't do that. And Shaub I think made a valiant¹⁴ effort in trying to at least let the public understand what it is that we actually don't know.

OVERBY: Through all of this, Shaub has kept a low profile, as befits a career civil servant.

MEREDITH MCGEHEE: Really he had been fairly quiet. I don't know that I could have said who is the head of the Office of Government Ethics before he spoke⁷ out.

OVERBY: This is Meredith McGehee, a lobbyist for ethics reform and an adviser¹⁵ to the Campaign Legal Center. The center is where Shaub is moving later this month - a nonprofit group of lawyers who handle campaign finance, election law and now ethics law. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF EL HUERVO'S "DAISUKE")

1 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

2 dueling   

n. 决斗, 抗争(=duelling) 动词duel的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• More light-hearted But somewhat puzzled, Vladimir prepared to meet Eugene on the dueling ground. 弗拉基米尔心里轻松了一些，但仍感到有些困惑，在这种心情下，他准备去决斗场地迎战叶甫盖尼。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• They had been dueling for hours and finally called a draw. 他们一直决斗了数小时，最后打成平局。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

6 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 divest   

v.脱去，剥除

参考例句：

• I cannot divest myself of the idea.我无法消除那个念头。
• He attempted to divest himself of all responsibilities for the decision.他力图摆脱掉作出该项决定的一切责任。

9 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

10 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

11 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句

12 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

13 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

14 valiant   

adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人

参考例句：

• He had the fame of being very valiant.他的勇敢是出名的。
• Despite valiant efforts by the finance minister,inflation rose to 36%.尽管财政部部长采取了一系列果决措施，通货膨胀率还是涨到了36%。

15 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。