9.29.2005
FEMA Hurricane Response Puts Spotlight on Political Patronage Jobs (CNN.com)
Wednesday, September 28, 2005; Posted: 4:35 p.m. EDT (20:35 GMT)
From Candy Crowley and Sasha Johnson
CNN Political Unit
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The political finger-pointing that evolved in Hurricane Katrina's wake not only exposed deficiencies in the government's disaster preparedness, but put a spotlight on how and why some Bush administration officials got their jobs.
"The idea of 'cronies' has been around for a long time," said Larry Noble, president of the Center for Responsive Politics, a government watchdog group. "Every president that comes in has a lot of political appointees that they can bring in with them."
Michael Brown's rise to the top position at FEMA, critics say, came about because of his close relationship with Joe Allbaugh, who happened to be President George W. Bush's campaign director in 2000, and who subsequently was installed as the head of FEMA in 2001.
"I picked him because he is a good man who knows how to run a very important organization and I am proud of my friend," said President Bush when he chose Allbaugh for the job.
Cronyism, or showing favor to old friends or family, is nothing new in Washington. President John F. Kennedy made his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, attorney general in 1961 and President Bill Clinton put his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of his health care plan, arguably one of the largest policy initiatives of his first term.
Taking care of political friends or people who worked on the winning presidential campaign is so common that the government publishes a must-read book every four years titled the "United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions" or the "Plum Book."
The book is essentially a catalogue of want ads. It lists the roughly 3,000 political appointee jobs that the president or his White House personnel office are responsible for filling. They range from the secretary of education to the commissioner of the Marine Mammal Commission.
(More ... CNN.com - FEMA hurricane response puts spotlight on political patronage jobs - Sep 28, 2005) ¶ 20:30
From Candy Crowley and Sasha Johnson
CNN Political Unit
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The political finger-pointing that evolved in Hurricane Katrina's wake not only exposed deficiencies in the government's disaster preparedness, but put a spotlight on how and why some Bush administration officials got their jobs.
"The idea of 'cronies' has been around for a long time," said Larry Noble, president of the Center for Responsive Politics, a government watchdog group. "Every president that comes in has a lot of political appointees that they can bring in with them."
Michael Brown's rise to the top position at FEMA, critics say, came about because of his close relationship with Joe Allbaugh, who happened to be President George W. Bush's campaign director in 2000, and who subsequently was installed as the head of FEMA in 2001.
"I picked him because he is a good man who knows how to run a very important organization and I am proud of my friend," said President Bush when he chose Allbaugh for the job.
Cronyism, or showing favor to old friends or family, is nothing new in Washington. President John F. Kennedy made his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, attorney general in 1961 and President Bill Clinton put his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of his health care plan, arguably one of the largest policy initiatives of his first term.
Taking care of political friends or people who worked on the winning presidential campaign is so common that the government publishes a must-read book every four years titled the "United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions" or the "Plum Book."
The book is essentially a catalogue of want ads. It lists the roughly 3,000 political appointee jobs that the president or his White House personnel office are responsible for filling. They range from the secretary of education to the commissioner of the Marine Mammal Commission.
(More ... CNN.com - FEMA hurricane response puts spotlight on political patronage jobs - Sep 28, 2005) ¶ 20:30
