Charles Peters writes: There is nothing wrong with political appointees



"There is nothing wrong with political appointees who have the ability to do the job. Their dedication to implementing their president's policies may even make them preferable to civil servants who are indifferent to these policies. But there's a great big 'if' to all this. The 'if is if the president and his policies are wise and good. That is why we have to care about whom we elect. If you elect a Franklin Roosevelt, you're going to get able appointees. If you elect George W Bush, you're going to get Michael Brown."

Charles Peters was Director of Evaluation for the Peace Corps under founding Director Sargent Shriver.

Charles Peters writes: There is nothing wrong with political appointees

The case against the case against political appointees

For reasons that will quickly become understandable, I have been uncomfortable with all the condemnation of political appointees that has followed in the wake of Katrina. You see, I was once a political appointee myself. I was brought to Washington because I had managed John Kennedy's campaign in my West Virginia county in 1960.

I went to work for a political appointee, Sargent Shriver, who turned out to be a great leader of the Peace Corps. He, however, was skeptical about other political appointees, and he didn't know me, so I was given a job-called "Consultant to the General Counsel"-in which my capacity for doing any harm was modest indeed. I felt embarrassed that I was "political." I eagerly volunteered for assignments that would give me a chance to prove that I wasn't a hack but had some ability, and that I was as dedicated as my colleagues to the mission of my agency.

The general atmosphere at the agency was so free of partisanship that I recall one day Shriver and Bill Movers danced into my office with joy as they celebrated having recruited an outstanding Republican, William Saltonstall, to head the Peace Corps in Nigeria. I did not put my inscribed photograph from John Kennedy on my office wall until after the assassination. Of course, most of us were devoted to Kennedy, but we were convinced that we could best serve him by making the Peace Corps an agency the country could be proud of.

What this means to me is that there is nothing wrong with political appointees who have the ability to do the job. Their dedication to implementing their president's policies may even make them preferable to civil servants who are indifferent to these policies. But there's a great big 'if' to all this.

The 'if is if the president and his policies are wise and good. That is why we have to care about whom we elect. If you elect a Franklin Roosevelt, you're going to get able appointees. If you elect George W Bush, you're going to get Michael Brown.

When this story was posted in January 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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Top Stories: January 3, 2006 Tony Hall leaving ambassador's post 8 Dec Military aims to bolster language skills 2 Jan Isaiah Zagar rescuing Magic Garden 1 Jan Taylor Hackford won't produce J Lo in Carmen 31 Dec Rupert writes on militants' aid in Quake Zone 29 Dec Toledo bows on Military Human Rights Violations 29 Dec Tim Shriver supports movie "The Ringer" 26 Dec Josh Busby writes: How Healthy is the NPCA? 24 Dec Congressional Victory on Peace Corps/Military Option 22 Dec PC Fellows Nursing Program doubles at JHU 19 Dec PCVs team with Mexican scientists on water quality 17 Dec Farr denounces Pentagon spying at UCSC 17 Dec Jack Anderson dies at 83 17 Dec Theroux criticizes rock star badgering on Africa 15 Dec James Walsh opposes Maoist revolution in Nepal 15 Dec Scott Stossel appointed acting editor of "The Atlantic" 15 Dec Oklahoma has highest percentage increase in PCVs 15 Dec Sargent Shriver honored at JFK Library 13 Dec Blackwill says torture may be appropriate 13 Dec Bill Moyers for President? 13 Dec Kinky Friedman files papers to run for governor 8 Dec

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Military Option sparks concerns The U.S. military, struggling to fill its voluntary ranks, is allowing recruits to meet part of their reserve military obligations after active duty by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" and RPCV Chris Matthews leads the debate on "Hardball." Avi Spiegel says Peace Corps is not the place for soldiers while Coleman McCarthy says to Welcome Soldiers to the Peace Corps. Read our poll results. Latest: Congress passed a bill on December 22 including language to remove Peace Corps from the National Call to Service (NCS) military recruitment program

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Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

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PC establishes awards for top Volunteers Gaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9.

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Robert F. Kennedy - 80th anniversary of his birth "Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change."

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Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now.

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'Celebration of Service' a major success The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here.

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PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident" The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted.

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The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

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Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

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