Well New Jersey has been governed by a few bimbos. The last the fine honest
democrat he is can say with all honesty" he never had sex with that woman"
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Mark Janzen
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 12:33 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: National Parks SErvice....
Thanks Deb,
I was going to rant a little, but you helped me get over another bout of
Bush inspired horror. I sometimes allow my sheer terror concerning our
current administration get in the way of rational discourse.
The PEER letter originally cited does make it sound like a new bout of
dangerous demagoguery from our imperious leader. I appreciate your more
considered interpretation of the institutional situation.
By the way, I know a few cities(and have lived in them) where the
public-service-experience-free mayors have done significant damage. Which
states are/were governed by bimbos? Just curious. :)
Cheers.
Mark Janzen
Registrar/Collections Manager
Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art
Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection
Wichita State University
(316)978-5850
Deb Fuller
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COM> To
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SE.LSOFT.COM> Subject
Re: National Parks SErvice....
10/19/2005 11:14
AM
Please respond to
Museum discussion
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<[log in to unmask]
SE.LSOFT.COM>
On 10/19/05, David Harvey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I think that the essential issue here is how far down the pipeline the
> direct politcal adgenda goes. The issue isn't whether it is Bush, but
> whether any President should have his/her (hopefully one day) adgenda
> directly influencing the lower echelon and middle managers (civil
> service) in any of the federal departments. I am sure that if Clinton
> had done the same thing there would have been the most strident
> complaints about it.
Any upper level agenda is going to roll down to all managers in an
organization. Just because Bush's agenda is political, doesn't make it
any different. It's the head of an organization's job to set goals and
direction and the job of everyone beneath them to carry it out. Bush
sets the agenda for the nation, the department heads set agendas for
their departments that are in line with Bush's agenda, the agencies
under those departments have to match their goals and agendas with the
higher ups and on down the line. Even the small National Park has to
keep in line. It's no different than any other federal organization.
My organization has numerous slides and reports of how they are
keeping in line with national policy and all department heads within
my org have to keep in line with it as well. And us peons are
constantly being reminded of how our work is supporting the
over-arching policies.
State and local goverments do this as well as private organizations.
My company has the company mantra and everyone down to the lowest
paper-pusher is affected by it and to some extent, has to spout the
company mantra. It's goes with being employed by an organization. Some
orgs are more "rah rah" about it than others. It sounds like the NPS
hasn't had to be that "rah-rah" before and now they are being made to
get in line with the rest of the federal agencies. It's not
unreasonable. And trust me, every administration has required copious
amounts of "rah rah" from federal employees. Bush's camp seems to be
more up front about it than others have been but he's not doing
anything radical.
> But Indigo is also right that the long-term civil service employees have
rarely
> had to directly pledge allegence to any political adgenda. If the
> policies are changed by Congress or by the director then usually
> everyone must follow the new policies eventually.
No one is being asked to "pledge allegence" to anything. The letter
from PEER used that language but it is not used in the original
directive issued from the NPS director. The actual wording of the
memo for what is required from the Regional Director, not the person
being hired, is "a statement of the person's (hiree's) ability to lead
employees in achieving the NPS Legacy Goals, the Secretary's 4Cs and
the President's Management Agenda."
All that is saying is that the person making the recommendation to
hire someone has to justify their choice. No one is going to want to
hire someone with their own agenda. This is just requiring it to be
put down on paper. Corporations do this all the time, esp. for people
in management. Once you get put in charge of other people and
programs, which is what the GS-13-15 levels are, you not only have to
do your job, but really toe the organization party line. Not
unreasonable for any organization to require of anyone. Corporations
have corporate missions to make money. Federal orgs have political
agendas to support the current administration.
> Just seeing what happened during Hurricane Katrina with the FEMA
> response should give anyone pause to consider if having the crony of
> any politican in the manaagement of a critical agency is a good thing.
It's also a testament to what you'll get if you elect the popular guy
with no public service experience to be mayor of a major city or a
bimbo for govenor but that's another topic for debate. ;)
> I think that no matter your poliical persuasion that we can all agree
> that this sort of nonsense must stop, and removing the influence of
> business and ALL special interests from the political landscape would
> be a healthy thing.
Separate issue. I agree with you there. But it has nothing to do with
requiring NPS people to follow national agendas. As I mentioned
before, I don't like the national agendas either, but I wouldn't want
each national park going their own way. That's asking for even more
abuses.
Deb
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