{"id":23355,"date":"2018-05-02T18:34:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T18:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/05\/02\/senators-worry-wh-innovation-office-promotes-cronyism\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:49:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:49:17","slug":"senators-worry-wh-innovation-office-promotes-cronyism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2018\/05\/02\/senators-worry-wh-innovation-office-promotes-cronyism\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators worry WH innovation office promotes cronyism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The White House Office of American Innovation, established in March 2017<\/a> to bring private sector innovation into government operations, has claimed many successes over the past year<\/a>, including IT modernization efforts, hurricane aid to Puerto Rico and education initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But an April 25, 2018, letter <\/a>from Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly questioned the real impact of such successes, noting that the office\u2019s lack of transparency and reports of financial assets owned by its members call into question the true efficacy of its mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal of OAI is admirable, but these recent reports suggest that rather than encouraging efficiency in government, the office is potentially a vehicle for cronyism and waste,\u201d the senators wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter notes that multiple people in the White House still do not understand the purpose of the OAI, adding that though the office said they had been involved in hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, there was no information made available about what kind of involvement they had, and U.S. officials on the island were unaware of their participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoreover, financial disclosure forms filed by Reed Cordish, former real estate developer who helped run OAI until earlier this year, indicate that he holds defaulted Puerto Rican debt,\u201d the senators wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cordish is also among a large group of original OAI members that have since left <\/a>the office or the Trump administration entirely, including former Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn, Senior Counselor to the President for Economic Initiatives Dina Powell and Senior Communications Aide Josh Raffel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter also raises concerns about private meetings OAI members had with business leaders and the office\u2019s failure to respond to repeated requests for information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senators requested that Kelly provide a list of information on the OAI\u2019s operations, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n