Committee On Crony Protection
In my stint at a tiny federal agency that had an annual budget that would not fund one day of our occupation of Iraq, I learned that most agencies function in spite of the political appointees – not because of them.
The top jobs at most agencies are simple quid pro quo paybacks for some service performed by the appointee. For instance, the first Chairman at my agency that I worked under was the President’s Oregon state campaign chair. Anyway, I get the feeling that it works the same way on the state level. People who do the work have modest hopes when it comes to the political appointee who shows up after an election. The near universal hope is that this unqualified loser keeps his/her meddling to an absolute minimum.
That’s why it is troubling to hear from a number of disparate sources that Ruth Ann Minner has launched a concerted campaign to get her unqualified cronies who head agencies converted into very highly paid protected government employees. Where she is successful in this undertaking, Delawareans lose.
I wonder if this will become a Markell/Carney campaign issue?
This could be helpful to understand my overall mood today….
http://delawarelibertarian.blogspot.com/2008/03/absolute-truthfor-certifiably-insane.html
I wonder if Minner’s appointees even want such government protection?
Folks who are political appointees (esp. of agencies that spend lots of money) have lots of possible employment opportunities in the private sector. In my own business, you find many executives who had past lives as a senior decision-maker at some agency or another. And in their private sector jobs, they are responsible for lobbying and marketing their old departments and buddies to obtain work or favorable regulatory decisions for their new employer.
This is the essence of the revolving door and once a prior agency head or deputy gets to the private sector, there is typically WAY more money, and WAY more freedom than any government job will get you.
It’s a good point, now that government sector employees make 50% more per hour than private sector employees, can’t be fired, and have great pensions and health benefits that are bankrupting towns and counties everywhere.
So you will mischaracterize my point to run right to more wingnut mythology?
Government sector employees are not paid better than their public sector counterparts (at least for the professional level jobs I am familiar with). It is certainly one reason why I don’t work for the government.
And those cities and towns going bankrupt? They made employment promises that those employees not only should be able to count on, BUT the city managers knew their financial obligations here and did nothing to provide for it. Except try to reneg on employment promises. These cities are the victims of their own incredibly poor financial management.
I’m sure that’ll go down nicely when it’s every town in America, every state in America AND the federal government that go bankrupt.
Bankruptcy is certainly more real than pretending that you can have police, fire protection, maintained roads and revenue collections for free, which is the only plan that repubs have.
The usual behavior for folks facing bankruptcy is to try to figure out how to live within their means AND pay down the debt that they probably didn’t need to run up.
“Bankruptcy is certainly more real than pretending that you can have police, fire protection, maintained roads and revenue collections for free, which is the only plan that repubs have.”
Yeah, because it’s THAT, and not the pensions, that are bankrupting towns. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
“The usual behavior for folks facing bankruptcy is to try to figure out how to live within their means”
Show me a government that has even attempted to live within its means.
And I assume then that you’ll join me in full-throated opposition to prevailing wage and huge increases in compensation and benefits for state employees, so we don’t get in the same financial peril. I won’t hold my breath.
Oh, wait. With over $4 billion in unfunded future benefits for state employees, we’re already in peril.
With over $4 billion in unfunded future benefits for state employees, we’re already in peril.
And who is at fault for not funding these obligations? Unfortuanately, all of these cities and states succumbed to the repub false magic of services for free. There is no way anyone should have to pay taxes to make sure that their police and fire departments are paid and equipped. There is no way that anyone should pay for road repair. There is no way that anyone should pay for judicial services.
The people who make and execute the budgets are square on the accountability seat for not funding the obligations they were promising. Instead, they bought into the repub bamboozlement that they could either pay for their spending way in the future or that rising costs don’t really exist.
It is tough to feel sorry for either the folks who peddled the bullshit or the folks who bought it.
But it is certain that the police and fire and other city workers who make it all run are not the cause of all of this financial mismanagement.
This is in fact being done for Ruth Ann’s BFF and “hit” woman, Leeann Walling, in DNREC. John Hughes is going to hire her for a planning position within his agency “because the governor asked him to” is what I have heard from insiders who are very upset about it.
So you (FSP) will mischaracterize my point to run right to more wingnut mythology?</i.
Cassandra….you are too cool.
So you (FSP) will mischaracterize my point to run right to more wingnut mythology?
Cassandra….you are too cool.
I love how cassandra tries to blame Republicans for the government employee pension situation, as if Republicans are in charge in that conservative bastion: California, or as if government employee unions have been promoting Republicans for office, who then reward the unions with dressed-up pay packages.
What color is the sky in your world, cassandra?
I can tell you that the color of my sky doesn’t allow for making up stuff like: government sector employees make 50% more per hour than private sector employees, can’t be fired, and have great pensions and health benefits that are bankrupting towns and counties everywhere.
What I did blame republicans for is for selling this business of not paying for anything by kicking the cost can down the road and then pretending that they are still small government patrons. But while we are defining the repub bambozzlement, let’s go further:
1. Accuse (group to be demonized today) of causing the problem. Assessments of real responsibility for the problem don’t mean anything unless you can accuse your bad guys of the day of causing it.
2. Make up data to support your position.
3. Get defensive (deliberate misreading or mishearing of the arguments presented is always a nice touch) when people call you on your crap.
Government employees did not cause the bankruptcy of Vallejo. Towns all over the US are being hit with a rapid loss of revenues from the Bush Housing Bust. These employees did not cause that bust. But city managers (county managers, whoever) decided to treat a boom in real estate-related revenues as though they were a permanent and stable revenue stream. If you are living on the bubble, you are prone to be hurt by the bust.
These government entities just took their cue from big business Under fund pension obligations during good times years ago then all of a sudden whoops we don’t have the money got to get rid of the pension and or a Government bailout which is standard operating procedure for big business Go0vernment does not have that option so bye bye pension
This is an excellent point, Andy. Taxpayers end up paying for everyone’s screwups because fiduciary responsibility is apparently no longer a capitalist value.