Reshuffling May Impair Open Gov Initiative

A rearrangement of staff within the White House may dilute the already weak enforcement of the president's open government directive, the Washington nonprofit Sunlight Foundation contends.

Office of Management Director Peter Orszag, who issued the memo to agencies, has exited. And White House Counsel Bob Bauer reportedly is taking on the added responsibility of open government oversight, which had previously fallen to Norm Eisen, the outgoing special counsel for ethics and government reform. So far, the only penalty an agency gets for ignoring the directive is the embarrassment of a red light next to its name on a "dashboard" -- an online scorecard.