Sebelius Asks for Trouble in Seeking Donations

This week’s furor over the Internal Revenue Service’s selective scrutiny of Tea Party groups and the Justice Department’s secret collection of phone records from the Associated Press has obscured what may prove in the long run to be a more troubling ethical breach. Unable to secure funding from Congress to carry out the Affordable Care Act, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has responded with a bizarre error in judgment.

Sebelius has been soliciting donations from the health-care industry, which she oversees, to support a nonprofit organization’s efforts to publicize the law’s benefits and encourage enrollment of the uninsured. Her department confirmed that insurance and pharmaceutical executives were among those approached for donations.