Editorial “Politics-as-usual in White House” , states: The offer of a position within the Obama administration “to discourage U. S. Rep. Joe Sestak from running against Sen. Arlen Specter… No doubt, Obama has disappointed many of his supporters who thought he was sincere about ending ‘the old way of business’ in Washington…” It goes on to opine, if “Obama knew all along what they were up to… Rep. Issa’s call for a criminal probe doesn’t seem all that far-fetched.”
WATCHDOG: Time for a lesson in history and political science for the writer of that editorial:
Encyclopædia Britannica: “In January 1883, Congress passed a comprehensive civil service bill sponsored by Sen. George H. Pendleton of Ohio, providing for the open selection of government employees—to be administered by a Civil Service Commission—and guaranteeing the right of citizens to compete for federal appointment without regard to politics, religion, race, or national origin. Only about 10 percent of the positions in the federal government were covered by the new law, but nearly every president after Chester A. Arthur, who signed the bill into law, broadened its scope. By 1980 more than 90 percent of federal employees were protected by the act.”
The clear intention of civil services legislation commencing with the Pendleton Act in 1883 has been to protect the jobs of non-political appointees while permitting political appointments for policy making positions. Otherwise, what power would a president, governor or mayor have to direct and influence the conduct of his or her administration?
It is true that George Washington had hoped that the federal government could be led by one party made up of well educated, well to do, altruistic individuals such as himself, but, had they not thrown away the mold after forming Washington, it has been gathering dust for most of the time since. Washington was hardly in office a couple of years before Alexander Hamilton on one side and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison on the other were practicing modern day politics.
What the New Era and others who denounce the ‘horse trading’ with Sestak are unwittingly arguing is for the elimination of politics. They know better. Thus the allegations of wrong doing are absurd, sheer political opportunism.
Politics play an essential role in electing leaders, appointing officials, and leading a government. That is, unless we want to draw the names of our candidates and appointees out of a hat!
