Eight Agencies Converted 17 Political Appointees to Career Positions Without Approval
30th September 2016
Seventeen political Obama appointments across eight different agencies converted to career positions without receiving the required Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approval.
After President Obama leaves the White House on Jan. 20, 2017, over 4,000 of his political appointees also vacate their government offices as well. Federal employees prepare for new administrations by converting some of the outgoing White House’s political appointees to permanent career civil servants.
According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had the most unapproved political to career conversions with six, followed by Health and Human Services (HHS) with three, and the Department of Energy (DOE) with two.
All of these agencies made seven of these conversions in 2010, when OPM’s previous approval policy was first established, and made two conversions in 2015 (through October 1).
As Jerry Pournelle is fond of saying, the purpose of government is to hire and pay government workers.