Examiner Columnist | 11/24/08 9:38 AM With a new administration come new job applicants, and background-checkers are in full throttle. Once a reasonable precaution reserved for high-level appointees in sensitive positions of national security, background investigations now are conducted on applicants for even low-level jobs – positions where the employee’s bosses’ bosses will never get near a state secret.
Merely to get a secretarial job in some federal agencies, applicants are required to complete the Questionnaire for National Security Positions, in which they must disclose where they have lived, gone to school, worked, and traveled; provide detailed information about spouses and cohabitants, parents, siblings, stepparents, stepsiblings, half-siblings, in-laws, foster parents and guardians. They must divulge information about their finances and any mental-health treatment and sign a release for related records; report any police record – even if it is sealed or expunged; detail any illegal drug use, alcohol use, involvement in lawsuits, and any associations that could be deemed questionable.
This just to answer the phones.
Imagine Barack Obama having to complete that form or answer these questions from the Personal Data Statement given to individuals hoping to work in his White House:
Please include information about other members of your family that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you:
“I don’t know most of my family. My father was a reprobate who impregnated women and abandoned them and his children across two continents. One of my aunts has been living in the United States illegally – at taxpayer expense, in public housing – and refuses to leave the country. My paternal grandmother is causing trouble by insisting I was born in Kenya. But every family has its share of kooks, right?”
Nominees must reveal any close contact with foreign nationals with whom you are bound by affection, influence, and/or obligation:
“The half-sister I know, Maya Soetoro-Ng, is the daughter of my Indonesian stepfather, married to the Canadian son of Malaysian Chinese immigrants. Born in Muslim Indonesia, she’s now a Hawaiian Buddhist. Diversity is our strength.”
Please specifically describe any affiliation you have had with any financial institution that is currently the subject of federal government intervention, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:
“I accepted more money from Fannie and Freddie than any other senator except Chris Dodd. As a presidential candidate, I sought economic advice from former Fannie Mae honchos Jim Johnson, Franklin Raines, and Jamie Gorelick. But who wouldn’t? Having pocketed collectively from Fannie Mae more than $100 million in only a few years, they obviously know a lot about making money.”
Please list each membership, including any board memberships, you have had with any political, civic, social, charitable, educational, professional, fraternal, benevolent or religious organization during the past 10 years:
“I served on the board of the Annenberg Challenge project with William Ayers, whom I barely know and, besides, I was only a child when he led the terrorist group that bombed the Pentagon and the Capitol. The project shut down in 2003 after achieving ‘little impact on school improvement and student outcomes,’according to its final report.
“When I served on the Woods Fund with William Ayers, whom I barely know and, besides, I was only a child when he led the terrorist group that bombed the Pentagon and the Capitol, the fund gave money to the Children and Family Justice Center, where Ayers’ wife/partner-in-crime is the director. The Woods fund also gave money to Trinity United Church, where I was a member of Rev. Jeremiah ‘God damn America’ Wright’s flock.”
Please describe the mortgage terms for any properties listed and any special circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the mortgage(s):
“I bought my Chicago home for much less than the asking price – in what those nasty Republicans dub a ‘sweetheart deal’ – with the help of my friend Tony Rezko, who was recently convicted of corruption and fraud. Nothing untoward should be inferred from that, as I explained on my FightTheSmears.com website.”
Briefly describe the most controversial matters you have been involved with during the course of your career:
“Please see attachments.”
Just think: People applying to work in the White House mailroom have to turn over their medical records, yet Obama won’t even produce his birth certificate to prove that he was born in this country. He couldn’t have qualified for a job watering the White House Rose Garden.
Lucky for him, we elected him president.
Examiner columnist Melanie Scarborough is an award-winning commentary writer whose work has appeared in more than two dozen newspapers, magazines, and books.
