Civil Service Under Attack!

 

The president has long complained that established Federal Civil Service employees were out to get him.  He has stated that they have formed a “deep state opposition” to his government, so this week he announced his revenge.  He is establishing another hiring level which will be under political control in the Federal work force. The president is known for holding grudges, but even with his history, this seems to be an excessive attack to me (which I will discuss after some background).

The Federal and State Civil Service was created in 1883 by the Pendleton Commission under President Ulysses Grant.  It moved to create a professional and technical employee base which would be selected on the basis of expertise and standardized exams. Criteria were created for different areas and salaries and benefits were established for skill levels. Around 1920, a retirement annuity was established based on the years worked; later a retirement age was set. The impetus for these actions was the desire to have an ongoing work force which was free from partisanship, politics and patronage. Eventually, the work force was provided benefits such as leave, insurance, and workers compensation; unions were also incorporated into the workplace. These bureaucracies were established to be an apolitical workplace whose workers were the managers from administration to administration and provided the institutional memory so necessary to keep departments and agencies functioning. To that end, regulations such as the Hatch Act were enacted to prevent active partisan campaign work by Federal employees. These employees were also not allowed to run for partisan offices while employed, but could run for school board, for example, if that position was non-partisan.

After an election, each administration is permitted to place so-called political employees in policy or administrative positions in Federal Departments or agencies, often under a Cabinet Secretary or bureau head. Currently there are about 4,000 positions under that allocation across government. These employees are selected by and serve, as installed, at the pleasure of the president The total Federal workforce today has about 2.1 million employees and although concentrated in the Washington area, they are currently working all across the country and in government installations across the world. I have read books by Michael Lewis (The Fifth Risk) and Ronan Farrow (War on  Peace) who wrote about the damage being done to the federal workforce with the loss of expertise in certain areas and at the State Department as the new administration did not even try to fill vacated positions. Lack of continuity in foreign diplomacy is a significant issue. In most cases Obama employees were not allowed to stay on for a meaningful transition in many sections.

The efforts this week are not the only ones made against a Federal work force; there have been other steps taken in the last couple of years. Certain Departments under this administration (Agriculture and Interior) have tried to reduce the Washington DC workforce by requiring the workers to move to areas in the Midwest or elsewhere or be fired. And in a move, back in 2018, negative actions were taken as employees who had been working part-time from home were told by the Agriculture Department that they had to again work in person in the office; (another environmental practice of the Obama administration that was changed.) Prior to the pandemic, this policy was being expanded across the Federal Civil Service.

This week, the final plans to curtail the rights and privileges of the Federal work force were announced by the administration in the Federal Register with implementation to take place on January 19, 2021 (the day before the next Presidential Inauguration). The Executive Order from the president would create a new subset of the Civil Service called Schedule F and could move tens of thousands of administrative employees out from their current merit status into this new category which could, if enacted, strip them of all civil service protections. Jobs would not be competitive, not be listed on the federal jobs site, not be subject to set criteria, or allow veterans preference.  Workers would be employed in an “at will” category. Ability to have union membership, if allowed at all, would be severely curtailed. These jobs would apply to many who currently hold positions of policy making, confidentiality, or support those departments; professional positions such as attorneys or physicians probably, which require a certain expertise, would not be affected. There is no expectation or guarantee that this employment would be carried over to each new administration. 

The administration indicated the inability to fire poorly performing employees was one of the reasons to create this new work force and claimed that a quarter of the employees were chronically underperforming. The president and conservatives have long railed against a set work force which they felt was allied against this administration. Some have indicated, that as the president was the head of the Executive branch, effectively all employees of the government should serve the president, not necessarily the people. The president has, indeed, spoken about ‘his’ judges, ‘his’ military, ‘his’ departments. The president recently spoke out bitterly against those government employees who testified under subpoena at his impeachment hearings. Part of the effort to create this order was started from several people at the Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank, also quite involved in choosing right wing judges) who had written memos to this issue; some former employees from Heritage were employed by the White House as part of the executive order effort which was carried out in secrecy, without even notice to Cabinet members.

According to the Federal News Network, both the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) representatives haves decried these proposals. The NTEU issued the following statement: “Americans should ask themselves why this White House is so determined to override, undermine and get rid of veteran public servants who have dedicated their careers to serving the American people,” Tony Reardon, NTEU national president, said in a statement to Federal News Network. “These are employees who have served admirably under presidents of both political parties, and they deserve the protections afforded by our civil service laws.”

This order can be overturned by either legislation or executive order if VP Joe Biden is elected.  It will be in force if the president is re-elected. Some have said that if it is in force for the next four years it would be very hard to over- turn. In the mean-time it would decimate an effective middle-class employment option which has provided decent employment with benefits and job security for millions of workers and efficiency and effectiveness to the American people for more than 100 years. Can improvements be made in the American bureaucracy - of course – that can always happen, especially when one is looking at large agencies. Is that a reason to try to undermine the efforts of more than a century of governmental workers? I think it is not. Many of us know people who work for “us” – the American populace - and know them to be a dedicated, hard-working group of people. These vindictive efforts are just another example of the pettiness of this unqualified president. I guess the election will let us know what next steps might be in these matters.

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COVID stats – NY Times

This last week was, sadly, the week with the highest numbers of cases since the pandemic began. More than 20 states had record high levels of cases as the virus spread more widely in the Midwest as the case numbers showed an increase of 32% over recent counts. The highest ever number of cases (more than 82,000) happened one day this week as colder weather settled in at several places, including Alaska, which has a severe outbreak.

US cases totals: 8,700,100. New cases: (10/24) - 78,702. Total deaths: 225,100. Total new deaths: 871.

Maryland cases: Totals: 139,487. New cases: (10/23) 796. Total deaths 4,091. Total new deaths: 13.

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This week we learned that more than 500 immigrant minor children, forcibly taken from their parents at the Mexican border over the last two years, have not been reunited with their parents as the parents cannot be found. The ACLU and other volunteer organizations (not the government – despite court orders) - have been searching for the parents back in their home countries, but this search has been made even more difficult due to the coronovirus. This country used to be better than this. I hope it is again, soon and I hope it is possible for these children to have loving homes, hopefully with their parents, someday.

In conclusion, early voting and absentee balloting has broken all records despite obstacles and court by the Republicans about ballot counting. Hours long lines have been seen in multiple states, due in part, to reduced polling places and also to increased turnout. So far, to this point, more than 54,345,000 votes have already been cast ten days before election day – more than the totals for early voting in 2016. Some are predicting that there will be a record final vote, although it is not known how many of these early votes would, without the virus, have been in-person votes. Due to the large numbers of absentee ballots in some states which do not advance count – such as Pennsylvania – final totals may be delayed after election day. Most Republicans, it is expected, will wait and vote in person on election day. In Maryland early voting begins on Monday 10/26/20 and continues to 11/2/20. Early voting centers can be found here.

And in conclusion - The panda gets a check-up – he did not seem to be very happy about it!

‘Til next week – Peace.