Obama to Weed Out Bush Appointees with New OPM Directive

More Orwellian policies to help Our Dark Overlord destroy America:

Obama to weed out Bush political appointees who careered in; Establishes new political test for career jobs
By: Mark Tapscott – Washington Examiner
Editorial Page Editor

John Berry, President Obama’s director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), has issued a new directive that is clearly designed to weed out any Bush administration political appointees who “careered-into” the civil service.

The directive also effectively establishes a partisan political factor in hiring for career civil service positions in the federal bureaucracy. Berry’s agency oversees the federal government’s 1.9 million career civil servants.

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In double-speak language that would make a Soviet apparatchik blush, Berry justifies his directive as merely an attempt to prevent political interference of the career civil service:

“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 decision making authority over these matters to career Senior Executives at OPM to avoid any hint of political influence.”

In fact, federal agencies have long been required to secure OPM approval before filling a career position with an individual who came into the federal government as either an executive branch political appointee or a congressional staff member. And career Senior Executive Service (SES) employees at OPM have always been involved in the agency’s review of such proposed hires.

So Berry is literally saying nothing new while presenting it as if it is new. What is actually new, however, is Berry’s subtle introduction of a partisan political standard in the process under the guise of a time limit:

“In no case may an agency make an appointment of the type described below without written authorization from OPM:

“A. 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.

“B.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.”

In other words, if you worked for President Bush in the executive branch at any time during his second term in the White House, you may not be approved. The same applies if you worked for a Republican Member of Congress at any point during the past five years.

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