Burrowing In

Just when we thought there would be a break in the rush to protect political hacks we see this story from the Seattle Times.

The most laughable part of this story is this phrase: Chris Paolino said the department followed all the normal procedures for civil-service hiring when changing his status.

What an unmitigated joke! These people are on the public payroll as Schedule C employees. Once someone high up, like the Secretary of the Interior, determines that a Schedule C should be a permanent employee, the high ranking official tells the respective personnel office that this person is to be hired and voila, that person is hired. All the paperwork is in order, everything looks fine, and on the surface it looks like the hiring was done legally, but it isn't. I know. I've worked for the Interior Department for 21 days short of 30 years. This sort of bullshit goes on all the time.

There is no competition for positions, which is the hallmark of Federal employment. There were no applications that this person had to compete against. There were no interviews or was there a panel put together to consider this person's application against those of all other applicants. And thats true because there were no other applicants.

The author of this piece is correct. This bullshit happens at the end of every Administration. The next administration is saddled with political hacks who stay on and try to derail the efforts of the new Administration. Whats particularly laughable is that the people who are burrowed in are generally among the most vociferous in their disgust with the Federal government. They say that until it looks like Uncle Sam's gravy train is leaving the station, then suddenly its ok to be a "bureaucrat."

This stuff goes on under Administrations of both political parties so this is nothing new. However given the degree of cronyism in this Administration we should look forward to many many many more examples of this happening between now and January 19, 2009.