The Scandal That May Haunt the New Nominee for Labor Secretary
R. Alexander Acosta was the head of the civil rights division at the Department of Justice in the Bush administration when subordinates skirted civil-service laws and engaged in politicized hiring.
R. Alexander Acosta, President Trump’s pick to run the Labor Department following the withdrawal of Andrew Puzder’s nomination, was the head of the civil-rights division of the Department of Justice in the Bush administration during a period in which his subordinates became embroiled in a scandal over politicized hiring. That scandal raises questions about Acosta’s ability to effectively manage a much larger federal agency in an administration that has already shown a tendency to skirt ethics rules.
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