posted to my LJ also
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Bush's Recess Appointments
The idea of recess appointments is well known, and every president does it. Simply put, if a president has reason to suspect its choice for a particular government appointment is going to be met with resistance from Congress, he'll opt to wait until everyone is on vacation and just appoint them himself. That appointee will hold the job until the next round of Congressional elections*. Bush did this most visibly with John Bolton, and he's just done it again, appointing a whole slew of people.
My favorite:
Julie Myers, age 36. Cronyism at its best. Let me list the ways she is completely un-qualified and/or inappropriate for this job:
- When Bush nominated her last year, both D's and R's in the Senate raised concerns. Hence the recess appointment.
- At the time of her appointment, she had been serving as the President's special assistant for personnel.
- She's never managed a large group of people in her career. The largest was a staff of 170 at a section of the Dept. Of Commerce. The bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, her brand new job, has 15,000 employees and a $4 billion budget.
- She's never dealt with immigration issues at any kind of extensive level.
more good ones:
- She is the neice of General Richard B. Myers, just-barely-former chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
- She is the WIFE of John Wood, Homeland Security head Chertoff's chief of staff. Her new job is IN the Dept. of Homeland Security.
"Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job." Remember that one?
-bri
*in the case of Clinton's and the elder Bush's recess nominations, they were made at a time when the opposing political party controlled Congress, and so there was a good shot at a decent check-and-balance. Not so now.
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Bush's Recess Appointments
The idea of recess appointments is well known, and every president does it. Simply put, if a president has reason to suspect its choice for a particular government appointment is going to be met with resistance from Congress, he'll opt to wait until everyone is on vacation and just appoint them himself. That appointee will hold the job until the next round of Congressional elections*. Bush did this most visibly with John Bolton, and he's just done it again, appointing a whole slew of people.
My favorite:
Julie Myers, age 36. Cronyism at its best. Let me list the ways she is completely un-qualified and/or inappropriate for this job:
- When Bush nominated her last year, both D's and R's in the Senate raised concerns. Hence the recess appointment.
- At the time of her appointment, she had been serving as the President's special assistant for personnel.
- She's never managed a large group of people in her career. The largest was a staff of 170 at a section of the Dept. Of Commerce. The bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, her brand new job, has 15,000 employees and a $4 billion budget.
- She's never dealt with immigration issues at any kind of extensive level.
more good ones:
- She is the neice of General Richard B. Myers, just-barely-former chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
- She is the WIFE of John Wood, Homeland Security head Chertoff's chief of staff. Her new job is IN the Dept. of Homeland Security.
"Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job." Remember that one?
-bri
*in the case of Clinton's and the elder Bush's recess nominations, they were made at a time when the opposing political party controlled Congress, and so there was a good shot at a decent check-and-balance. Not so now.
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I'm going to go read DMZ #3 now.