Posted on 12/30/2008 6:33:51 PM PST by BGHater
Despite keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Pentagon, President-elect Obama’s transition team informed 90 Bush appointees their services will not be needed after Inauguration Day.
Scott Gration, a senior official on Obama’s transition team, called and emailed several of President Bush’s Pentagon appointees about 10 days ago to inform them they were being dismissed.
Those calls and emails were followed up by an email from Jim O'Beirne, the special assistant to the secretary of defense for White House liaisons, who expressed exasperation that Gration informed the employees directly instead of letting O'Beirne's office know first.
"With regard to the process, I am unable to provide an explanation," O'Beirne wrote on Tuesday in the email, which was obtained by The Hill. "I played no part in it, and I will not speculate why matters were handled as they were."
A spokesman for the Pentagon said Gates was "absolutely satisfied" with the way the transition was handled.
Gates "is sensitive to the fact that a number of appointees will not be able to stay on after [Jan.] 20th," Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said. He noted Gates did request many appointees stay on and the "Obama team was able to cooperate."
But O'Beirne made it clear in the email that in some cases of dismissal, he thinks the employee's politics played a role in their being let go.
O'Beirne said that Gates had "sought to keep virtually his entire team in place pending the availability of Obama replacements."
Out of roughly 250 political appointees, 90 were dismissed.
"Whatever negotiations occurred in pursuit of that goal, the Gration notifications evidently reflected the results of those efforts," O'Beirne wrote.
Traditionally political appointees resign at the end of a president’s term, leaving the new commander in chief to put his own team in place but with Gates staying in the top Pentagon job there was reason to believe many of his staff would also stay.
The Obama team noted that a majority of the political appointees will remain in place.
"Given that our nation is at war, we have asked several political appointees at the Department of Defense to stay in their jobs past January 20th to help ensure a smooth transition. We are grateful for the cooperation and professionalism of the men and women at the Department of Defense in support of our men and women in uniform," an Obama transition official said.
Bush has repeatedly stated that he wanted to see an orderly transition to ensure that the next president would hit the ground running at a time when the country is fighting two wars and weathering one of the most significant economic crises in modern times.
Until now, that process seemed to be going smoothly as a number of departments have reported efficient and even cordial working relationships between Bush appointees and transition officials. The holiday Pentagon dismissals appear to be the first breakdown.
In the email, O'Beirne tried to assure the soon-to-be displaced employees that the decisions were based on "policy change in the Obama administration" and not based on performance.
However, he said, if employees "harbor residual doubts" then they can "content yourself with the likelihood that it was your outstanding performance as a Bush appointee that drew the opposition's attention to you."
"In that regard, you may take justifiable satisfaction that you were among the first to be chosen," O'Beirne wrote.
Other reasons O'Beirne cited for employees' dismissal were "politics, matter of policy and availability of qualified replacements and the strength of the permanent career and uniformed staffs."
Morrell, a political appointee who is staying at the Pentagon, noted that while O'Beirne is usually the liaison for political appointees Gates chief of staff Robert Rangel has taken over that role. Rangel is also staying on.
"Jim has had to defer many of the things he could normally respond to," Morrell said as a possible explanation for the email.
They would not have to dismiss me. At 12:00 January 20, 2009 I would be gone on my own accord.
As would I. No thanks Mr. Obama.
Is this the first step in his plan to surrender the country to the Islamists?
Bush was too busy taking the “high road”.
That’s a classic mistake of the “honorable” types.
They do everyone a disservice by not punishing crooks and criminals.
They don’t care about qualifications.
They want “yes” people who fit their ideology which doesn’t have to be for the good of the country.
America is in for some hard lessons. Again.
“The first step in his plan to surrender the county to the Islamists”
Keen perception...Start obamanation at the Pentagon
One good thing about the spoils system was that it prevented the silting up of an entrenched careerist bureaucracy with civil service deadwood.
If you want a great read about the sabotage of the Bush administration by the Clintonistas he left at State, CIA and The Pentagon, pick up "Shadow Warriors" by Ken Timmerman.
It will make you cry for the lost opportunities we had, and the perfidy of Washington that Bush was too naive to see.
Only an Ass changes horses midstream. We are in for it folks.
and what happens if the Supreme Court decides Obama is not fit to hold office?
The problem isn’t that the Bush political appointees are going out the door on Jan 20th, that’s a given. It’s the way it was done. For Obama’s team to email them and in effect tell them they are fired is a juvenile, snotty and unprofessional act. That is the issue.
obamacrimes.com
so...can we expect that 79% of the active-duty military will also be let go, for 'employee politics' ?
that would accurately describe the entire obummer campaign, and, most likely what is to come
best regards, blu
When Barry is sworn in, nothing he does will surprise me.
And you expected anything else from a bunch of juvenile, snotty unprofessionals?
Get used to it.
It’s gonna be all about hope, change, lollipops for the kiddies and romper room on every TV in the White House.
Try not to think about the dirty diapers laying around the place and the temper tantrums that are going to follow when the brats don’t get ice cream every day.
I don’t understand what caused you to make that comment.
Now if you had stated that if he changed parties he would, I might have had to give it some thought. LOL
As it is, he won’t be getting any votes that I know of from members of this forum.
Wait until the U.S. Attorney in Chicago gets his walking papers... /sarc
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