Bad Government

I like to use the term “good government” on a regular basis. I firmly believe in the government’s ability to change people’s lives for the better. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen much of that lately.

Two cases in point are on the back pages of the news this week. Scott Bloch has resigned from the Office of Special Counsel to a chorus of “good riddance” from many government workers. He actually helped out in a couple of aviation cases but it seems as if it was only to deflect criticism of his own performance.

The other obscure news is about the Federal Labor Relations Authority. There hasn’t been a quorum at the FLRA so there hasn’t been any action on a backlog of cases.

FedSmith has the story.

FLRA Has a Quorum but Still No General Counsel

”On October 2, the Senate unanimously voted to confirm the appointment of Thomas M. Beck as Chairman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority and Carol Waller Pope as a member. “

” The confirmation, this late in President Bush's term by a democrat dominated Senate, is a bit of a surprise as the hotly contested election is so soon to come and the candidates so starkly different in their labor relations stances.“

More insider intrigue I guess. Mr. Beck was with the law firm Xxxxx Xxx. I’d provide you a link but evidently they don’t like to be linked. It’s a good thing we have Google I guess.

Don Brown
October 22, 2008