The question unasked
Why didn't you take the buyout?
As one might expect, the media is publishing and televising sob sister stories about federal workers departing the government voluntarily and involuntarily. This reminds me of the mass layoffs of factory workers 30 to 50 years ago. The media ran many a story about how sad and hopeless suddenly unemployed people were.
Losing your job for no fault of your own must be tough to take. All the jobs I lost were my own damned fault and looking back, in each case they should have fired me sooner. I was not meant to work for someone else.
But civil servants are another matter. The stories fall into two categories. The first is the insubordinates who are quitting rather than carrying out the orders of the duly elected president. They get the media’s equivalent of a tickertape parade.
A longtime federal prosecutor resigned Tuesday rather than carry out what she described as orders from Trump-appointed officials to take actions unsupported by evidence, according to a copy of her resignation letter obtained by NBC News.
Denise Cheung, who had been at the Justice Department for over 24 years and was the head of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, wrote in her resignation letter to interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin that she had “always sought to offer sound and ethical counsel” to her bosses throughout multiple administrations, and that she had been asked to take investigative and law enforcement actions despite what she called the lack of “sufficient evidence.”
Why didn’t she just take the buyout and explain that then issue her protest letter? She passed up eight months of paid vacation time. That is marvelously moronic.
But with 24 years of service, she has vested retirement rights and depending on age, she likely can start getting a pension. Plus she is a lawyer. There are plenty of ambulances in the DC area. I’m sure she can find one to chase.
The second category is the gobsmacked government worker. For example, ABC reported:
Hanna Hickman, a now-terminated worker for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told ABC News the last four days have been a roller coaster.
“It's scary,” said Hickman, who was fired last Tuesday. “I had a real moment—I was at CVS the other day and it kind of came on me all at once that I might not have health insurance in a few weeks, and that really hits you. I think it underscores the fact that we're just regular, middle-class people, just like the people we're trying to serve.”
Hickman was senior litigation counsel for the Division of Enforcement at the CFPB in Washington, D.C. She is one of thousands of mostly new employees known as probationary workers laid off this week across the federal government. Those recent hires had joined the federal workforce within the last one to two years, depending on the agency, and have fewer protections.
She plans to sue. In cross-examination, the government will ask her why she did not take the buyout.
Only 3% of the 2.5 million government workers eligible took the buyout. That’s 75,000 smart people.
The 97% who did not evidently believe Civil Service protection from political retribution is a lifetime guarantee of a job.
But the real delusion suffered by the civil servants and reporters alike is that these are independent agencies that do not report to the president or anyone else. For many civil servants, government is their religion. Hickman said of her job, “For me, this was, you know, a calling.”
Many reporters say the same thing about their work and add that they have taken a vow of poverty. What they lack in money, they make up for in ego.
Once upon a time, the Wall Street Journal had the most intelligent staff in newspapering. It may still, but the quality dropped precipitously after Sir Rupert purchased the company.
This was the headline: “Trump Signs Order Giving White House Control Over Independent Agencies.”
This was the premise: “President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that gives his political appointees far-reaching control over federal agencies that for decades operated independently of White House influence.
“The order requires that independent agencies submit major regulations to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. The budget office is run by budget hawk Russell Vought, a Trump ally.”
There is no such thing as an independent agency in government. Presidents have let them get away with murder and worse crimes for decades. Trump is reining them in. They thought that horse collar was just for decoration. Surprise, surprise, Sargeant Carter.
If the president picks the boss, he controls the agency because he is indeed the chief of the executive branch.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive order bringing independent agencies under the control of the White House—an action that would greatly expand his power but is likely to attract significant legal challenges.
It represents Trump’s latest attempt to consolidate power beyond boundaries other presidents have observed and to test the so-called unitary executive theory, which states that the president has the sole authority over the executive branch. And it reflects the influence of Russ Vought, Trump’s budget chief, one of several conservatives in his orbit who have called for axing independent arms of the executive branch.
The disinformation is courtesy of taxpayers. Government employees pay off Politico through taxpayer-paid subscriptions that cost $10,000 a year or more. DOGE canceling those subscriptions forced Politico to miss a payroll. Politico will grind that ax forever.
The Constitution, which gets no money from taxpayers, says, “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”
AP received $37.5 million over the years from taxpayers. It glossed over Clinton firing 426,000 federal employees (about 16% of the staff back then) relegating the information to Paragraph 9 in its story, “What to Know About the Federal Workforce Under Trump.”
I am sympathetic to federal employees who will lose their jobs. Trump challenged and destroyed their sense of entitlement to a job and their belief that they were not answerable to the president or anybody. That takes adjustment.
Most of them will need a job. It likely won’t pay as well. It likely will demand production. Miss Hickman said she was a lawyer in private practice for 15 years. I think she knows she had it made. She no longer does.
I can give her 36 trillion reasons why these personnel cuts must be made. That is the number of dollars we as a nation owe.
But the question remains: why did she not take the buyout?
I voted for the pretty women keeping their jobs, because we all know they’re Republicans.
“Once upon a time, the Wall Street Journal had the most intelligent staff in newspapering.” Until they hired Peggy Noonan who if she was writing about snow in winter would include at least one sentence deprecating DJT.