Ex-Google CEO Schmidt’s charity helped fund WH science office: Report
This article features Government Accountability Project’s whistleblower client, Rachel Wallace, and was originally published here.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has cultivated close ties with the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), having his charitable foundation pay for the salaries of two employees and maintaining a relationship with President Biden’s top science adviser — who stepped down last month after an investigation into claims he bullied and demeaned his staff, according to a new report.
Schmidt, who is estimated to be worth $23 billion, has had an outsize influence on OSTP since Biden took office, Politico reported Monday. According to the outlet, more than a dozen officials in the 140-person office are or have been associates of his — including some current or former employees.
Through his foundation, Schmidt Futures, Schmidt has indirectly paid the salaries of two OSTP employees, including chief of staff Marc Aidinoff for six weeks, the report said.
In addition, the charity’s chief innovation officer, Tom Kalil, spent four months at OSTP as an unpaid consultant while on the Schmidt Futures payroll before stepping down amid ethics complaints.
Schmidt also maintained a close relationship with Eric Lander, Biden’s former science adviser, and other White House appointees, Politico reported.
Lander stepped down from running OSTP in February after an internal investigation found “credible evidence” that he had bullied female staffers and violated the office’s “Safe and Respectful Workplace Policy.”
During Lander’s tenure, “significant” ethical red flags were raised about the agency allowing Schmidt Futures to foot the bill for some of Lander’s staff due to the former Google exec’s financial interests overlapping with the office’s work on artificial intelligence and data analytics, Politico reported, citing internal emails from then-general counsel Rachel Wallace.
Wallace and others on OSTP’s legal team routinely identified potential conflicts of interest related to Schmidt and the foundation over the past year.
Last fall, Wallace filed a formal complaint against Lander’s treatment of her. She told Politico that she believes Lander’s bullying was connected to her raising ethical objections to Schmidt’s involvement in the office.
“I and others on the legal team had been noticing a large number of staff with financial connections to Schmidt Futures and were increasingly concerned about the influence this organization was able to have through these individuals,” said Wallace, who is being represented by the Government Accountability Project as a whistleblower.
Wallace filed a formal whistleblower complaint earlier this month.
A spokesperson for Lander wouldn’t address specific issues, but did tell the outlet, “Throughout his tenure, Dr. Lander strictly adhered to all White House ethics policies.”
The White House rejected the idea that there was anything unusual about the office’s ties to Schmidt, and added that ethical concerns were quickly handled.
Schmidt, through his foundation, also funded Schmidt Futures fellowships that paid for some OSTP staffers’ expenses and travel to scientific conferences.
Office legal analyst Min Hee Kim wrote one employee last July to ask her to pull out of the fellowship because of Schmidt Futures’ “strong interest in scientific discoveries and innovative technologies, [which] poses a very significant conflict of interest,” the report said.
Two other employees also withdrew after Kim and other legal officials raised concerns.
An OSTP spokesperson disputed that its work was closely aligned to Schmidt’s priorities.
“You’re trying to tell a story of agency capture — that one philanthropy has influence over policy outcomes,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Politico.
“And yet, OSTP is executing on an aggressive agenda to protect the civil rights of all Americans impacted by algorithmic discrimination in the use of artificial intelligence and automated systems, is working across government to gather data that will help ensure that government delivers services more equitably, and is evaluating the mental health harms caused by social media platforms. We are proud to be defined by our work,” the statement said.
The spokesperson added that the office “works with numerous outside groups on a variety of important and critical science and technology matters, and staff come to OSTP from many different federal agencies, universities, and outside entities.”
Politico pointed out that the office’s founding statute in 1976 allows the director to “utilize the services of consultants” to help fulfill its mission.
Asked about any potential conflicts between OSTP and Schmidt Futures, Norm Eisen, who served as the White House ethics czar in the Obama administration, told Politico: “You might say that the desire of a philanthropy to support government is noble, but at least the appearance question that is raised is whether government should be making its own determinations about that. There should not be the appearance that perhaps outside actors are unduly shaping that policy.”
Asked about the ethics concerns, Eisen said: “It’s not all appearances issues here. There are some significant challenges that were identified. I do think that those are meritorious and the White House came out in the right place in the end. The ethics sausage making isn’t always pretty.”