MORE CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN - AT 9:20 A.M.:   Still one more ethical issue confronting the transparent, idealistic, departure-from-past-practices Obama administration.  From the Washington Times:

President Obama's nominee for a top weapons-buying job at the Pentagon recently served as a paid adviser for a big defense contractor and is declining to disclose whom else he has worked for on a government ethics form designed to help the public guard against potential conflicts of interest.

Frank Kendall III, Mr. Obama's pick for principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, received $75,000 in consulting fees last year from defense contractor SAIC Inc., according to his recently filed disclosure form. He also reported fees totaling $8,500 from Centra Technology, another defense contractor.

But he's declined to name six other recent private clients, which were alluded to in the disclosure form but not identified. Federal ethics rules allow nominees to keep clients' identities private in limited circumstances. But ethics analysts say the omission raises questions about whether any of the undisclosed clients are also military contractors.

Yeah, I'd wonder about that, wouldn't you?

"It kind of raises a red flag as far as the Obama administration's efforts to keep contractors out of the Department of Defense," Scott Amey, general counsel to the nonpartisan watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, said of Mr. Kendall's defense consulting work.

Yuh think?

This nomination should be withdrawn unless the nominee is more cooperative.  We're talking billions of taxpayer dollars here.  Don't hold your breath.

November 10, 2009