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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today called on President Bush not to nominate a career Treasury Department executive as the representative of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees on the public-private IRS Oversight Board, arguing that the potential nominee “in no way qualifies as a representative of IRS employees.”

The board, which was established in the 1998 IRS Restructuring and Reform Act (RRA), has significant oversight responsibilities, including long-term and strategic planning, budgeting and more.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said the White House announcement of the president’s intention to nominate Donald V. Hammond, Treasury Fiscal Assistant Secretary as the employee representative, “flies in the face not only of the spirit of RRA, but the letter of the law as well.”

Section 7802(b)(1)(D) of RRA says that with respect to the makeup of the nine-member board, “one member shall be an individual who is a full-time federal employee or a representative of employees and who is appointed by the president, by and with the consent of the Senate.”

“There are no circumstances,” President Kelley said, “under which this proposed nominee—who doesn’t even work for the IRS—can be thought of as a representative of IRS employees.” The clear language of the law, she said, refers to the appointment of either a rank-and-file employee or employee representative.

In her letter to President Bush, the NTEU leader said Assistant Secretary Hammond’s nomination “would be terribly disrespectful” to the tens of thousands of IRS employees and would eliminate “an authentic employee voice providing input” into the board’s deliberations.

“The idea behind the provision,” Kelley said, “is to ensure a meaningful voice for frontline IRS employees in the deliberations and recommendations of this important oversight body.” Concerns expressed in discussions around RRA that Congress wasn’t getting a true picture of the IRS and that creation of an independent board with an employee representative was necessary “not only continue today, they are as relevant today” as they were in 1998, she said.

Periodically, the board reviews such vital IRS matters as modernization efforts, resource needs, and much more—and provides Congress and others not only with its recommendations, but with the underlying reasoning supporting its views.

“This body needs an experienced representative of IRS employees,” President Kelley said. There already is “no shortage of executive viewpoint on the Oversight Board,” she added, noting that the IRS commissioner holds a seat.

Besides writing the president, the NTEU leader made known her views on the possible Hammond nomination in letters to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee. She urged the committee to reject the nomination, if it is made.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 federal workers in 30 agencies and departments, including 90,000 in the IRS.