One problem for the honest people working for the government (and there are honest people there) is that the management decisions made by these charletons are never reviewed after they are caught.
That means that each and every fellow idiot they promoted remains in place, frequently in a sensitive position, the budget continues to go down, and any regulations they approved continue to harrass the taxpaying public.
It's not enough to catch these guys ~ more has to be done. Denny Hastert and George Bush have to start giving a d*mn*d. A nice executive order that requires a thorough review of crooked careers would be a good start.
Oh, yes, one more item ~ it's frequently the case in the federal government that a job standard will include the phrase "has a college level understanding" of something or other. This has never been enforced, and probably can't be. All it takes is an executive order to state "has graduated with a degree in so-and-so from a school which has accredation recognized by the such and so department". Then, begin removing all the folks who DON'T have such degrees from those jobs.
"That means that each and every fellow idiot they promoted remains in place"
Worse, they are promoted "up and out" - so that some other department (NIMBY) has to deal with the incompetence. There are several layers of supervisors in the DOL who have no business running a lemonaide stand.
Almost forgot the lesbian nepotism - "you hire my lover and I'll hire yours". Most of these hires have only one qualification - they're sleeping with a GS-xx.