Mr. John Berry, head of the federal Office of Personnel Management, sent a memo announcing his intent to review all political appointments to competitive or excepted civil-service positions, beginning next year and retroactive to five years ago.
The memo, sent to all executive-department and agency heads, was spotted by a regular reader at Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit site. Erick Erickson at RedState.com picked it up and published it today at 11:42 a.m. EST.
Although Mr. Berry does not explicitly say that he's going to purge all Republicans, several commenters to Erickson's site state that this sort of behavior has been going on all along, and that the only difference is that Mr. Berry is brazen enough to send a memo and thus put his policy in writing.
The salient text of the Berry memo follows:
Beginning January 1, 2010, agencies must seek prior approval from OPM before they can appoint a current or recent political appointee to a competitive or non-political excepted service position at any level under the provisions of title 5, United States Code. OPM will review these proposed appointments to ensure they comply with merit system principles and applicable civil service laws. I have delegated decisionmaking authority over these matters to career Senior Executives at OPM to avoid any hint of political influence.
In no case may an agency make an appointment of the type described below without written authorization from OPM:
The appointment of a current political Schedule A or Schedule C Executive Branch employee or a former political Schedule A or Schedule C Executive Branch employee who held the position within the last five years to a competitive or non-political excepted service position under title 5 of the U.S. Code.
The appointment of a current Non-career SES Executive Branch employee or a former Non-career SES Executive Branch employee who held the position within the last five years to a competitive or non-political excepted service position under title 5 of the U.S. Code.
The obvious question is: Why go back five years? And furthermore: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Messrs. Reynolds and Erickson, not to mention Mr. Erickson's commentators, can see only one answer.
The commentators also question the legality of this policy, and compare it to the outrage in Democratic Party circles when President George W. Bush fired eight United States Attorneys, all Democrats. No one has yet mentioned the summary dismissal, by the William Jefferson Clinton administration, of all then-sitting USAs in the first year that Clinton served as President.
Berry's announcement is supremely ironic, given his own history. He got his start as legislative director in Representative Steny Hoyer's office. He has been in the civil service since 1994, serving as assistance secretary of the Interior for management, director of the National Fish and Wildlife Federation, and, most recently, as director of the National Zoological Park.
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Comments
Maybe you ought to actually read the memo next time. You're wrong. They're wrong.
Whats new Bush set up the new govt. in Iraq w/ kids of prominenet Republican donors. You couldn't get hired by the govt. unless you could prove you voted for Bush
The smears of know-nothings. Read the memo sheep. It is far more likely to bar burrowing in by democratic political appointees than burrowing by republicans. It only applies to new hires. No body is getting purged.
Chuck, you amaze me. I quote the memo directly and still you miss a key point. Let me quote it again: "The appointment of a current political Schedule A or Schedule C Executive Branch employee or a former political Schedule A or Schedule C Executive Branch employee who held the position within the last five years..." So it does not limit itself to new hires. It goes clear back to 2004 to examine everyone who entered the Civil Service since halfway through the Bush administration. And for that only one motive can possibly exist.
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