Obama wants job seekers' full disclosure

WASHINGTON — Want a top job in the Obama administration? Only pack rats need apply, preferably those not packing controversy.

A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect Obama to those seeking Cabinet and other high-ranking posts may be the most extensive — some say invasive — application ever.

The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants' spouses and grown children, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics to document achievements and missteps.

Only the smallest details are excluded; traffic tickets carrying fines of less than $50 need not be reported, the application says. Applicants are asked whether they or anyone in their family owns a gun. They must include any e-mail that might embarrass Obama, along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook pages.

The application also asks applicants to "please list all aliases or 'handles' you have used to communicate on the Internet."

The vetting process for executive-branch jobs has been onerous for decades, with each administration erecting new barriers in an effort to avoid the mistakes of the past or the controversies of the present. It is typically updated to reflect technological change: There was no Facebook the last time a new president came to town.

But Obama has elevated the vetting even beyond what might have been expected, especially when it comes to applicants' relatives, in a reflection of his campaign rhetoric against lobbying and the self-serving ways of Washington.

Jobs with the mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have become potentially toxic since the government seized both companies after years of financial irregularities that have stoked the economic crisis.

Not surprisingly, Question 18 of the application asks whether "you, your spouse or any member of your immediate family" have been affiliated with Fannie, Freddie, American International Group, Washington Mutual and any other institution getting a government bailout.

Under the section "Domestic Help," the questionnaire asks for the immigration status of applicants' housekeepers, nannies, chauffeurs and yard workers, and whether applicants have paid the required taxes for household employees. (Those questions reflect controversies that tripped up President Clinton's first two nominees for attorney general in 1993.)

"Every transition is cumulative," said Michael Berman, a lawyer and lobbyist who worked in the transitions of Clinton and President Carter. After reviewing the application, Berman added, "I am very happy I am not seeking a job in the federal government."

The first question asks applicants not just for a résumé, but for every résumé and biographical statement issued by them or others for the past 10 years, a likely safeguard against résumé falsehoods.

Most information must cover at least the past decade, including the names of anyone applicants lived with; a chronological list of all activities for which applicants were paid; any real estate and loans of more than $10,000, and their terms, for both applicants and spouses; all net-worth statements submitted for loans, and any organization memberships, in particular, memberships in groups that have discriminated on the basis of race, sex, disability, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.

There are no time limits for some information, including liens, tax audits, lawsuits, legal charges, bankruptcies or arrests. Applicants must report all businesses with which they and their spouses have been affiliated or in which they have had a financial stake of more than 5 percent. All gifts of more than $50 that they and their spouses have received from other than close friends or relatives must be identified.

Just in case the previous 62 questions do not ferret out any potential controversy, the 63rd and final one is all-encompassing: "Please provide any other information, including information about other members of your family, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the president-elect."

The answer could duplicate the response to Question 8: "Briefly describe the most controversial matters you have been involved with during the course of your career."

For applicants who successfully clear those hurdles and ace their interview with Obama, the reward could be the job they wanted. But first there will be more forms, for clearances from the FBI and the Office of Government Ethics.