What Went Wrong with Obama's Vetting Process?

You have to wonder — did anyone bother to ask if all these nominees paid their taxes? (via Huffington Post)…

But the process has also produced some high-profile stumbles, from Commerce Secretary nominee Bill Richardson, to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Daschle, and Chief Performance Officer designee Nancy Killefer. Critics and even former staffers now say those setbacks were unnecessary, the result of a poorly run process that has ended up distracting the administration from pushing its agenda.

“I think that the personnel operation, in the transition especially, was sloppy, and that they were not focused on the ball,” a former Obama transition official told the Huffington Post. “When it came to the politically connected people, I didn’t get the sense that they were doing any sort of real vetting. I think once they filled out the forms, if they were known quantities, if they were friends of Obama or had the political juice, I think their forms were filed away and not looked at again.”

…the problem is that a few rotten apples spoil the bushel.  The public loses faith and confidence in a government that has the appearance of a better deal for those in power than the rest of us.