Appointees

As President Bush's tenure in the White House begins to wind down, political appointees looking to stick around have to hunt for a long-term job in the civil service. So-called "burrowing" - either for the benefits or the job satisfaction - happens under every administration. Often, it is done fairly. Someone wins a plum political appointment because of outstanding qualifications and then moves to a long-term position. But for a small number, positions are created with an appointee in mind, while veterans or more qualified applicants are passed over, according to a Government Accountability Office review of conversions from May 2001 to August 2005.

The Howard County Council last night introduced the names of the five people likely to be the firstappointments to the county's new hearing Board for Liquor License Issues, despite objections from the council's two Democrats that the GOP majority is rushing the appointments before the November election.The five appointees, who were chosen by County Executive Charles I. Ecker from lists submitted by each of the council members, are scheduled to be confirmed by the council next month.Several of the appointees, who were selected by council district, are politically connected.

FOR THE SAKE OF political expediency, House Speaker Newt Gingrich has seriously compromised the work of a blue-ribbon panel charged with finding a way to keep the Medicare program afloat over the long term. He has so hamstrung the panel -- even before its first meeting -- that there is serious doubt about its ability to do its job effectively.What Mr. Gingrich did was require that his four appointees to the 17-member panel take a "no tax increase" pledge. That may be good Republican politics, but it is bad public policy.

IN ONE OF THE most profound economic moves of his administration, President Clinton has structured a Federal Reserve Board that is very likely to continue the restrained monetary policy of recent years.His new appointees -- budget director Alice Rivlin and St. Louis economist Laurence Meyer -- are regarded as kindred spirits of Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, who fulfilled expectations in the financial community by getting a third term in his powerful post.The new board will be taking over at a moment when the nation is experiencing a "growth recession," one in which expansion of the gross domestic product is barely above zero.

The county Planning Commission has amended its list of appointees to teams revising the master plan to include more than 30 residents who participated in a growth workshop in April.Four teams, with as many as 35 volunteers each, will attempt to find solutions to Carroll's growth problems.The commission expanded the number of members of each team to at least 11. Other appointees include representatives from industry, agriculture and community organizations.Teams will address adequate facilities, economic development, farmland preservation and land use. As the county reworks its 30-year-old master plan, a blueprint for growth, officials hope the teams can offer insight into problems caused by a burgeoning population.

THE government does a lousy job of investigating th government. That's why the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act, passed by the Senate last year, finally was passed by the House last week. After conferees iron out minor differences in two weeks, the bill that President Clinton promised to sign will be on his desk.Not a moment too soon. Consider how abuses of power are probed by insiders versus outsiders.Last summer, a couple of Clinton State Department appointees wrongfully searched the files of their predecessors in the Bush administration; the subsequent dishing of dirt was done from the Washington private line of Warren Christopher's top aide, who was off in Singapore.

AT THIS solemn time, when Americans pause to reflect on the mercurial life of Richard Milhous Nixon, an offhand remark some years ago by former Sen. J. William Fulbright comes to mind:"Aside from his criminality," Fulbright said with an impish smile, "Richard Nixon was a pretty good president."A trifle ungenerous, perhaps, to recall that remark at the present moment, but the truth is, there could be no more succinct or precise political epitaph for the enigmatic man who, 20 years ago this summer, was forced to resign the presidency which he had just two years before won by the largest electoral vote in 100 years.

THE SENATE last week confirmed, 62-35, Judge H. Lee ("Stinky") Sarokin's promotion from a U.S. District Court judgeship in New Jersey to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.The latter's the court that in 1992 removed Sarokin from a trial because he lacked impartiality. It's also the court that over-ruled Judge Sarokin for one of the stupidest opinions ever written by a judge.In 1991 he said a town library couldn't enforce its "shhhh!," etc. rules against the intimidating stares, loud comments andextraordinary lack of personal hygiene of a bum who was harassing patrons.

Last year, when Baltimore County Executive Roger B. Hayden gave his appointees pay raises of 4.5 percent without telling the County Council, several members complained that the executive had sneaked the raises past them.This year, those same council members approved 8.6 percent pay raises for their own two top appointees -- a move that they defend because it was done openly during public budget deliberations.Council members said the $5,868 raises for council secretary Thomas J. Peddicord Jr. and auditor Stephen L. Kirchner are further justified because they are based on the raises that Mr. Hayden granted his appointees last year.

WASHINGTON -- Significant turnover in the federal work force is inevitable when a new administration takes over, and Democrats have already begun pulling the rug out from under Republican political appointees.On Nov. 4, Sen. David Pryor, D-Ark., sent letters to each federal agency warning them that he will monitor the conversion of government appointees to career employees.Pryor, a long-time friend of President-elect Bill Clinton, fears that appointees at risk of losing well-paying jobs will try to "burrow in" -- to use their influence to land career civil service or Senior Executive Service positions.

With one judge retiring soon and a 12th judgeship to be added in the coming year, Gov. Martin O'Malley will appoint two judges to the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court bench, and already the prospect is looming of appointees facing challengers on the ballot. Fresh in lawyers' and politicians' minds is the election of 2004, in which two Republican lawyers mounted successful campaigns that ousted two judges appointed by Democratic Gov. Parris N. Glendening. It was the first time in a quarter-century that a sitting judge lost an election in the county.

WASHINGTON - In only his second week in office, Barack Obama is punching the restart button on his presidency. Yesterday, Day 14 of a tenure that began with high hopes and soaring promises of bringing a new competence to Washington, Obama essentially admitted that he had lost ground in confronting his biggest challenge, fixing the country's crippled economy, due to the "self-inflicted injury" of selecting appointees who had failed to pay their taxes....

About 7,000 Maryland state workers are classified as "at will" employees, meaning that they serve at the pleasure of the governor and can be fired at any time or for any reason. Governors have long used such plum appointments to bring in trusted aides to carry out their policies and to reward political supporters. But the spoils system is also subject to serious abuse when important posts are filled with unqualified appointees or when competent jobholders become the targets of partisan witch-hunts.

As President Bush's tenure in the White House begins to wind down, political appointees looking to stick around have to hunt for a long-term job in the civil service. So-called "burrowing" - either for the benefits or the job satisfaction - happens under every administration. Often, it is done fairly. Someone wins a plum political appointment because of outstanding qualifications and then moves to a long-term position. But for a small number, positions are created with an appointee in mind, while veterans or more qualified applicants are passed over, according to a Government Accountability Office review of conversions from May 2001 to August 2005.

WASHINGTON - In the days since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown has come under withering attack, with critics charging that his lack of prior experience in dealing with natural disasters contributed to his agency's poor performance. But Brown is just one of at least five current and former senior FEMA officials appointed under President Bush whose professional backgrounds showed few qualifications in the area of disaster relief when they arrived at the agency.

With a Republican-appointed majority in control, the Maryland Health Care Commission fired yesterday its executive director, Barbara G. McLean, a career state employee who had headed the regulatory agency for the past four years. The board cited no reason for its decision, which was effective immediately. One commissioner who opposed the action, Ernest B. Crofoot, said seven appointees named to the commission by Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. had voted to end McLean's tenure, while three Democratic holdovers voted against her dismissal.

AFTER EIGHT years of Bill Clinton, many military officers breathed a sigh of relief when George W. Bush was named president. I was in that plurality. At one time, I would have believed the administration's accusations of anti-Americanism against anyone who questioned the integrity and good faith of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney or Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. But while working from May 2002 through February 2003 in the Pentagon office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Near East South Asia and Special Plans (USDP/NESA and SP)

The Howard County Council last night introduced the names of the five people likely to be the firstappointments to the county's new hearing Board for Liquor License Issues, despite objections from the council's two Democrats that the GOP majority is rushing the appointments before the November election.The five appointees, who were chosen by County Executive Charles I. Ecker from lists submitted by each of the council members, are scheduled to be confirmed by the council next month.Several of the appointees, who were selected by council district, are politically connected.

FOR THE SAKE OF political expediency, House Speaker Newt Gingrich has seriously compromised the work of a blue-ribbon panel charged with finding a way to keep the Medicare program afloat over the long term. He has so hamstrung the panel -- even before its first meeting -- that there is serious doubt about its ability to do its job effectively.What Mr. Gingrich did was require that his four appointees to the 17-member panel take a "no tax increase" pledge. That may be good Republican politics, but it is bad public policy.

The county Planning Commission has amended its list of appointees to teams revising the master plan to include more than 30 residents who participated in a growth workshop in April.Four teams, with as many as 35 volunteers each, will attempt to find solutions to Carroll's growth problems.The commission expanded the number of members of each team to at least 11. Other appointees include representatives from industry, agriculture and community organizations.Teams will address adequate facilities, economic development, farmland preservation and land use. As the county reworks its 30-year-old master plan, a blueprint for growth, officials hope the teams can offer insight into problems caused by a burgeoning population.