How many more Mike Browns are out there?

[lynn]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/...ion=cnn_latest

This is why these guys need to go. I can see putting your friends in place as long as they have the expertice to do the job, but Bush is populating the administration with people who can't do the job.

[jesus marion joseph]

Hafta' agree with lynn here. There's patronage, and then there's patronage......

[patricia]

The list looks like one which would be made by somebody who assumed that no important decisions, requiring anything but general knowledge, would ever have to be made.
YIKES!!

[frankiepop]

but Bush is populating the administration with people who can't do the job.

yeah for example take that guy they appointed president...

[patricia]

Originally Posted by frankiepop

yeah for example take that guy they appointed president...

Good point.

[acidflower]

Sadly, there is an amazingly large number of completely unqualified, albeit well-meaning, folks out there who are well-connected to the Bush admin. I suspect Mr. Brown's replacement will be a hairdresser or a golfer.

[Gordon B]

Four senators attended Michael Brown's FEMA Confirmation hearing. The session lasted 42 minutes.

[rollhead]

Both Republicans and Democrats are equally culpable when it comes to cronyism.

Clinton and Gore were cheerleaders for "re-inventing government" which essentially was a code-word for destroying the concept of civil service (invented in large part by Republican Theodore Roosevelt back in the day when Republicans were the true progressives.)

Clinton bragged about cutting the federal payroll by $2.5 billion, but didn't bother to mention that he increased the private consultant payroll by $3.5 billion. Private consultants aren't covered by the Hatch Act.

We are seeing the reemergence of cronyism, patronage, pay-to-play government in full force.

[lynn]

NY Times Editorial
Inexpert Selection October 11, 2005

The list of Bush appointees who seem to be rising on political connections rather than expertise continues to grow. A recent example is President Bush's choice to head a key office at the State Department that coordinates the delivery of life-sustaining emergency aid to refugees of foreign wars, persecution and natural disasters. The nominee is Ellen Sauerbrey, the former Maryland state legislator and twice-defeated Republican candidate for governor who was state chairman of Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign.

In 2002, Mr. Bush nominated her for another patronage job, to serve as the American representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. There she has relentlessly pressed an antiabortion and anti-family-planning agenda at international conferences meant to focus on urgent problems like sexual trafficking and the spread of AIDS.

Ms. Sauerbrey has no experience responding to major crises calling for international relief. As assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, she would oversee a vital $700 million a year bureau that coordinates with private relief groups and other international players like the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to set up refugee camps and arrange for adequate food, protection and other crucial assistance. She also would oversee the admissions of refugees for permanent resettlement in the United States. This is a post for an established expert in the field.

Concerned leaders of international relief groups have largely held their fire for fear of jeopardizing the government grants that support their work. But the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should give her careful scrutiny when it gets around to holding a confirmation hearing, perhaps by the end of this month. Before then, Mr. Bush ought to spike Ms. Sauerbrey's elevation, thereby voiding the need for responsible senators to do it for him.