No.
It has been OPM policy since the Carter Administration and under every
President since to ensure that politics play no role when agencies hire
political appointees for career Federal jobs.
In the past, OPM conducted a pre-hiring review of proposed appointments
to the career competitive service during the year leading up to a Presidential
election.
Effective January 1, 2010, OPM
expanded its pre-hiring oversight beyond the Presidential election year to
ensure hiring of current or former political appointees—whenever it occurs—is fair, open, and free from political
influence. The OPM Director’s January 1,
2010, memorandum for Heads of Departments and Agencies communicated two changes
in OPM’s policy. First, as noted above,
OPM now conducts pre-hiring reviews on a continuing basis, not just during the
year leading up to a Presidential election.
Second, we expanded the scope of our review for future hiring decisions. In the past, OPM only reviewed an agency’s
proposed hiring of a current or former political appointee when the career
Federal job was in the competitive service or career SES. Under our revised policy, OPM reviews
proposed hiring of current or former political appointees for jobs in the
excepted service as well. OPM's
responsibility to ensure merit-based hiring for Federal jobs includes both the
excepted and competitive service.