Stephen Vaden, the former Trump transition official now serving as the USDA’s interim chief lawyer, says politics played no part in the reassignment of 13 of the department’s top-rank and highest-paid civil servants since the new administration took office. Four of the career employees retired rather than accept the new posts.
“All reassignments were based on organizational need,” said Vaden in a seven-page letter released within hours of a request from all 10 Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee for information about the personnel moves. The senators asked if the job changes were “because of the political affiliation of the individual reassigned or because the individual had worked closely with Obama administration leadership officials at USDA?” Vaden had a one-word answer: “No.”
The reassignments involved members of the Senior Executive Service, a group of employees who “serve in the key positions just below the top presidential appointees” and “are the major link between those employees and the rest of the federal workforce,” according to the Office of Personnel Management. They are expected to show “well-honed executive skills.” The OPM said the USDA had 344 SES members in 2014.
Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the senior Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, raised concerns about the reassignments during a confirmation hearing this fall for Vaden. Her colleagues joined her in saying in the letter that they want “to ensure that all staffing changes are made in the best interest of USDA’s customers.”
Stabenow says she received reports of USDA staffers who “were placed in difficult situations or reassigned across the country” to positions that did not reflect their areas of specialization.
“Congress intended SES to be a mobile corps of managers,” wrote Vaden. “Rotation of SES members provides an opportunity to improve talent development, mission delivery, and collaboration, and it allows the secretary to address organizational needs.”
Vader has been nominated to be the USDA’s general counsel. His nomination awaits a Senate floor vote.