NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/USDA: “Morale among many of the Agriculture Department’s legal staff has plummeted since Stephen Vaden, the Trump administration’s nominee to be USDA General Counsel, assumed leadership in March, say several agency attorneys from across the country.
Vaden, who arrived at USDA in January as part of President Donald Trump’s beachhead team and was appointed principal deputy general counsel two months later, is enforcing workplace changes that have provoked unusually bitter labor negotiations, say the attorneys. He also has come under scrutiny for his past work defending state voter ID laws that critics say are discriminatory.
The result is uneasiness and mistrust among the more than 250 legal professionals that he will officially oversee if the Senate confirms his nomination, according to eight employees in the department’s Office of General Counsel, the majority of whom spoke anonymously due to fear of retaliation…
OGC’s union, Local 1106, publicly announced its opposition to Vaden after his confirmation hearing in early November — a first since the bargaining unit was formed nearly 20 years ago.
A USDA spokesperson told POLITICO in an email that the complaints are ‘an obvious union negotiation tactic’ as the agency brokers a new collective bargaining agreement…
The USDA spokesman declined to comment on criticisms of Vaden’s past work experience, and instead referred to his testimony during a Nov. 9 confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee where Vaden highlighted his role as USDA principal deputy general counsel in response to concerns by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) about his managerial qualifications.”
-Catherine Boudreau, “Agriculture Department lawyers balk at general counsel nominee,” Politico, Dec. 4, 2017 01:01pm