Lambert notes here how the US Forest Service has been politicized. A group called the NPS Retirees.org, formerly about as political as a head of lettuce, has for some time been trying to call attention to the same thing happening in the National Park Service.
Remember how they hid the contract that sent private mercenaries in as torturers at Abu Ghraib by having it "managed" by the NPS? That's almost a trivial irrelevance to the havoc they're wreaking at one of the oldest, most-respected operations the Federal government has ever run.
[. . .]
Sources inside the NPS indicate that the political appointees within the DOI and the Bureaus in Washington DC have established their own “chain of command” and meeting protocols. These meetings occur frequently and totally exclude career employees from the Bureaus. Often decisions are made that favor the political interests of those involved and not in the best interests of the missions of the Bureaus. Generally there are no records of the meetings or decisions, and decisions and actions are carried by “word of mouth.”
[. . .]
Yes, Virginia, there is a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. There's a common factor that ties it all together. Wouldn't you know that the guy who's seen it most clearly, and talked about it most bravely, is getting set to "retire"?
[. . .]
This is outrageous. Amateurs displacing the career folks, the ones who know how things work, to work toward President Strip Mine's reelection. These people are entrusted with some of our most valuable natural resources and they're dicking things up the way the Pentagon fucked up Iraq. It's like the Political Officers assigned to Soviet military units, assuring the loyalty of the troops to the leadership. What the fuck is this country coming to when the Forest Service is being corrupted like this? I just hope Kerry can straighten all of it out. Seems like an insurmountable task.
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