Federal File: On the job at E.D.

An inquiry by the General Accounting Office has disclosed a relatively high number of cases at the Education Department--including two that investigators term suspicious--in which political appointees were "converted'' into civil servants.

The G.A.O. studied the period between February 1988 and December 1989 because such activity generally picks up after a Presidential transition. It found 86 conversions made by 30 agencies.

Although the Secretary of Education's office did not change hands at that time, the department had nine conversions, the third-highest number among all agencies. The Interior Department led with 11, followed by the...