Justice firings just the tip of the iceberg

Fred Slocum is an associate professor of political science at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and is and an expert in church-state issues, environmental politics, political psychology, public opinion polling, race and politics, Southern politics and voting behavior.

U.S. attorneys fired for political reasons

By Fred Slocum

In 2006, Justice Department officials fired eight U.S. attorneys (all Bush appointees, most Republicans) without explanation, and Congress is now investigating – as it should.

These firings are highly disturbing, transparently politically motivated – and the tip of the iceberg, revealing the administration‘s fetish for stacking government positions with conservative ideologues. For positions involving political or policymaking roles, this is nothing unusual; every administration wants loyal team players in such roles. But to an unprecedented degree, the Bush Administration has adopted ideological litmus tests for positions for which political loyalty and/or views should be irrelevant or of secondary importance.

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The political purge of U.S. attorneys exemplifies the Bush Administration’s long-standing pattern of rampant politicization of government agencies and processes. John DiIulio, who headed Bush’s faith-based initiatives office, revealed that in this White House “everything, and I mean everything, is run by the political arm.” Hiring political loyalists isn’t necessarily problematic – to the extent education, credentials and experience still matter.

Excessive insistence on political loyalty compromises independent decision-making, erodes the credibility of government scientific agencies, damages employee morale and results in hiring less-than-qualified individuals.

Read the entire article on the Mankato Free Press website, including numerous references, here.