Bush "Burrowing" Key Political Appointees In Career Civil Service Jobs

Just weeks before leaving office, the Interior Department's top lawyer has shifted half a dozen key deputies -- including two former political appointees who have been involved in controversial environmental decisions -- into senior civil service posts.

The transfer of political appointees into permanent federal positions, called "burrowing" by career officials, creates federal sinecures for those employees, and at least initially will deprive the incoming Obama administration of the chance to install its preferred appointees in some key jobs.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[SailFree]

Making political appointments? Hmmm...you mean like Clinton and every other president does?

[gap08]

Well, love him or hate him, the time is coming near to say goodbye to George W. Bush. I would like to extend an invitation to anyone who has something to say to this President to post an open letter to GW at http://goodbye.us . This is a project to essentially create a time capsule of feelings and thoughts about the outgoing administration. So please, check it out and share!

[SailFree]

It's not necessary to love or hate--a fair appraisal based upon facts and logic would be sufficient.

[Rosey]

Does this slimy end for the worst President in modern history surprise anyone? I am not shocked or surprised by his end run around President Obama. One would expect it for someone like Dubya. I am waiting for him to come out like Greenspan and admit he was all wrong on everything.

George Dubya Bush on "The Fog of My Presidency." It would be a fitting end!

[research]

Impeach!

[Rosey]

This end run around President Obama should surprise no one. Dubya should have been impeached years ago. He will be remembered as the worst President in modern history.... and he feels his only mistake was to pose before a sign saying Mission Accomplished? Give me a break. "The Fog of my Presidency" will be the title of his book!

[Palemoon]

According to the OPM website, this is pretty much illegal. ;o) If the job is to be open to outsiders, non-civil service, it must be listed as "open competitive" meaning that anyone off the street can apply and be interviewed for the job. If the job is listed as non-competitive, then the job has to go to an existing civil service employee taken from the work area in question, or a related one. Since these people were non-civil service, it is illegal to hire them to a non-competitive position.

[That Guy]

And I'm sure Obama's massive team of legal experts is working on a half a dozen ways to undo this. Bush still doesn't get it. Obama is smarter, faster and more motivated than Bush could ever even dream of being.

[EvangelicalEmpathy]

I'm sure there could have been 2 or 3 people hired for every one of these "Bush conversions". Think about the cost of benefits & retirement for these high-priced jobs. This is disgraceful and why our federal govt. is so costly and ineffective. Obama said he is going through each item of the federal budget to look for cost savings. I hope Obama commissions each federal agency to conduct an audit of every job in the federal govt. by the end of FY'10 and requires agency heads to justify each job or lose the slot. This is real fiscal responsiblity.

[peterg76]

This is hardly anything new. Remember all that perjury by Alberto Gonzales?

[PhilipTaylor]

Obama should have an Audit of the usefulness of every job/position in the bureaucracy/Government!
The idea is to determine if it is Cost Effective, that is, does the job provide benefits to America twice the size of the cost?

If not eliminate them and beef up those positions that do provide multiple benefits to America!
Line item analysis is also important but job/position analysis is just as important!

[coastalcarla]

Every Bush appointee that has been moved into a cushy, high paying career government position should be shipped to Baghdad to fix the mess that they all helped to create. Let them be the "transition team" while we prepare to bring our sons and daughters home. That ought to keep them busy for about a decade. Lots of infrastructure reconstruction work to be done, since we bombed the entire country to the stone age.

[rosiebond007]

If they are not qualified to hold the jobs in question, they can be asked to "resign" - we don't want them collecting unemployment.
I am sure when competent Obama Managers are in place, some of these people will disappear permanently.
It just takes time, but I can wait......

[XME]

12 PM, January 20th cannot come soon enough!!

[Chavez08]

Maybe Obama can use his Bush inspired "Unitary Powers" to make the Bush appointees disappear via "Extraordinary Rendition"

There's alot that's apparently "Good for the Goose".

[larmarch5]

These prairie dogs are not a threat; they are a waste of money.

Of concern is that they are getting special pay grade adjustments that pay them a lot more than what their OPM pay grade states.

Incoming appointees certainly know of all the burrowers and will make sure their tunnels get sealed off from the power flow. Ordinarily these rodents would be going to lucrative "pay back" private jobs or to lobbying firms, but a lot of those have dried up, so the pay might look good to them.

Here's the OPM tables: http://www.opm.gov/oca/08tables/indexSES.asp

[pjburns11]

Investigate and Indict. The evidence is there.

35 sound charges

http://thetruthburns.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/forget-impeachment-its-time-to-probe-investigate-indict-bush/

[WhirledTraveler]

Perhaps Obama could use one of W moves and use a signing statement to wipe out the posts.

[coastalcarla]

That's what I was thinking, too!