Comments on: Follow the Emails http://www.mahablog.com/2007/03/28/follow-the-emails/ Exposing the ugly truths about the Bush Administration. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:48:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1.3 by: sb http://www.mahablog.com/2007/03/28/follow-the-emails/#comment-189859 Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:04:50 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2007/03/28/follow-the-emails/#comment-189859 Maybe the patriot act can be used to check out those off the record messages? Wouldn't that be justice to have the same act they used to be used on them. Maybe the patriot act can be used to check out those off the record messages? Wouldn’t that be justice to have the same act they used to be used on them.

]]> by: Donna http://www.mahablog.com/2007/03/28/follow-the-emails/#comment-189818 Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:56:38 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2007/03/28/follow-the-emails/#comment-189818 Deja vu......In Illinois, the Republicans had held the grip on our state government and the governor's office for many years. One of my relatives, who'd begun working in state govenment right out of high school [starting in the 60's in secretarial work, retiring a few years ago as an administrative assistant to a department head] had an insider understanding of how politics destroyed good government. In the late 80's, she told me that rules related to civil service had been fully usurped by patronage decisions. She described a process in which their agency would still go through the motions of interviewing candidates through the civil service system, which traditionally meant interviewing those applicants who had scored highest on pre-set tests and requirements. But amongst those applicants would be inserted a politically named individual who had to be given the job. I think my relative spoke about this back then only because it was so maddening to see the best applicant not be hired and then to watch the agency decline with the insertion of so many unqualified people mucking up the professionalism she had taken to heart. The voters in Illinois finally cleaned out the Republican majority who had subverted our state government to promote a party agenda. I really hope that happens nationally through the '08 election. The only thing I would caution is that such subversion of the government by either party leaves a structural system of spoils that is awfully tempting for the opposing party to fall into.....sort of like a rutted road tends to cause all cars to drop into the ruts. With what Rove et al have done, I think we need to bulldoze and repave the road. Deja vu……In Illinois, the Republicans had held the grip on our state government and the governor’s office for many years. One of my relatives, who’d begun working in state govenment right out of high school [starting in the 60’s in secretarial work, retiring a few years ago as an administrative assistant to a department head] had an insider understanding of how politics destroyed good government.
In the late 80’s, she told me that rules related to civil service had been fully usurped by patronage decisions. She described a process in which their agency would still go through the motions of interviewing candidates through the civil service system, which traditionally meant interviewing those applicants who had scored highest on pre-set tests and requirements. But amongst those applicants would be inserted a politically named individual who had to be given the job. I think my relative spoke about this back then only because it was so maddening to see the best applicant not be hired and then to watch the agency decline with the insertion of so many unqualified people mucking up the professionalism she had taken to heart.

The voters in Illinois finally cleaned out the Republican majority who had subverted our state government to promote a party agenda. I really hope that happens nationally through the ‘08 election.
The only thing I would caution is that such subversion of the government by either party leaves a structural system of spoils that is awfully tempting for the opposing party to fall into…..sort of like a rutted road tends to cause all cars to drop into the ruts. With what Rove et al have done, I think we need to bulldoze and repave the road.

]]>