In reply to the proposed, and then defeated, move to "outsource" the jobs of
the National Park Service archeologists from the federal government
"non-profit sector" to the "private for-profit sector", Mr. Atherton wrote:

> Interesting question though - why do the archaeologists need to be
> Government Employees (bureaucrats)? It would seem to make much more sense
> for these services to be privatized, because on the whole, the work isn't
> really "governmental". The argument for "loss of expertise" seems a little
> spurious. For one thing, in this instance, the (ex) Parks Archaeologists
> would be in an ideal situation to set themselves up as consultants.
>
> tim


A question for Mr. Atherton and others of similar opinion:

Take the following work situations:

a private, nonprofit museum
a state museum
a city museum
a county cultural agency
a corporate museum
a private, nonprofit house museum.

If, at various times in a person's work life, that person is employed as a
curator in each of the above situations and performs the same curatorial
work in each situation, is the person a "bureaucrat" when working in a
museum run by a governmental body, and "not a bureaucrat" when working in a
museum that functions under a different governance structure?

What is "governmental work" and what is not "governmental work"?

Should everything be run by for-profit contractors?

Is a job in the "for-profit" sector inherently "better" than the same job in
the "non-profit" sector?  Or vice versa?

If anyone wishes to respond, they can do it to the list or off-list to
[log in to unmask]

Thank you,

Nancy Powell

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