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nypost.com/2017/07/11/firing-hundreds-at-the-va-should-be-just-the-start/
Author: Betsy McCaughey
[The author was formerly lieutenant governor of New York State.]
On Friday, the Department of Veterans Affairs posted a list of hundreds of VA employees fired or punished for misconduct since the Trump administration took over on Jan. 20. It’s a good start. But not enough.
The VA, which left vets to die on waiting lists for care, is a glaring example of what’s wrong with the entire civil service. It’s become a federal-employee protection racket.
Workers in every part of the bureaucracy who commit serious wrongs, like tax evasion, watching porn on the job or robbing a bank on nonwork hours, typically keep their jobs and even get bonuses.
Back in 1883, Congress passed the Pendleton Act to replace patronage with civil service, so workers would be hired and paid based on merit. Not now. Federal workers get hefty salaries and benefits regardless of their work quality, with no risk of getting fired. One kind of corruption has been replaced with another.
Even worse, these bureaucrats churn out regulations that invade our lives, stifle economic growth and thumb their noses at the electorate. They’re called civil servants, but there’s nothing civil about many of them.
Author: Betsy McCaughey
[The author was formerly lieutenant governor of New York State.]
On Friday, the Department of Veterans Affairs posted a list of hundreds of VA employees fired or punished for misconduct since the Trump administration took over on Jan. 20. It’s a good start. But not enough.
The VA, which left vets to die on waiting lists for care, is a glaring example of what’s wrong with the entire civil service. It’s become a federal-employee protection racket.
Workers in every part of the bureaucracy who commit serious wrongs, like tax evasion, watching porn on the job or robbing a bank on nonwork hours, typically keep their jobs and even get bonuses.
Back in 1883, Congress passed the Pendleton Act to replace patronage with civil service, so workers would be hired and paid based on merit. Not now. Federal workers get hefty salaries and benefits regardless of their work quality, with no risk of getting fired. One kind of corruption has been replaced with another.
Even worse, these bureaucrats churn out regulations that invade our lives, stifle economic growth and thumb their noses at the electorate. They’re called civil servants, but there’s nothing civil about many of them.