One Crony Deserves Another (10/13/05)
by Dean Hartwell
What does it take to be appointed to a job by President Bush?
In his first Administration, he chose many people close to his father. People like Colin Powell, Condi Rice and Dick Cheney, all of whom worked for George H.W. Bush, found high-ranking positions for George W. Bush.
In his second Administration, he has chosen people close to himself. He promoted Rice, who has become his workout partner, to be Secretary of State. He gave Mike Brown, a fundraiser for Bush, the position of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director. Now he has selected his former personal attorney Harriet Meiers, for a seat on the Supreme Court.
Cronyism is nothing new to our nation. Presidents in the nineteenth century appointed friends to positions with the federal government so often that Charles Guiteau, when rebuffed by President Garfield for a job, shot him to death. President Lyndon Johnson appointed his friend Abe Fortas to serve on the Supreme Court (he served as an Associate Justice but failed to secure confirmation to be Chief Justice). More recently, President Clinton chose childhood friend Mack McLarty to be his chief of staff.
But Bush’s choices have lacked the proper experience for the respective positions. Rice, for example, is an expert on the Soviet Union. Unfortunately for her, the Soviet Union does not exist anymore, thus leaving her without expertise in any part of the world.
Mike Brown’s skills as a fundraiser brought him to the attention of President Bush. But the position of director of FEMA requires experience in handling disasters and emergencies. Brown lied about his background, which did not include any such experience. One may wonder if Brown, dubbed “Brownie” by President Bush, would have had much success in getting a job with the Bush Administration had he not been able to become cozy with Bush by raising funds for him.
Now we have Harriet Miers, a corporate attorney who served as Bush’s personal attorney for some time, up for the Supreme Court. She has no experience as a judge, nor does she have an impressive background as other non-judge candidates for the Supreme Court have had. For example, Earl Warren serves for ten years as the governor of California (and ran for Vice-President) before President Eisenhower chose him to be Chief Justice of the United States.
Presidents would be wise not to select people for high-level positions based solely on their friendship with those people. They must look to qualifications for the positions in question and make sure their candidates meet them.
The consequences of choosing the wrong people for jobs are enormous. The slow FEMA reaction to Hurricane Katrina traces directly to Brown’s lack of experience (and Bush’s mistake in appointing him). How many people died because of Brown’s incompetence?
Miers, if confirmed, could serve on the Supreme Court for twenty years or so. She would make decisions on such critical issues as privacy, eminent domain and discrimination. How will she fare in asking questions of the parties before the Court? On what criteria will she make her judgments on these and other issues?
The problem is not finding answers to these questions, but the fact that the questions are raised in the first place. We need leaders of whom we can feel confident will work to solve society’s problems. Choosing friends destroys that confidence and leaves us with a feeling of betrayal.