Protect Civil Servants
Protect the Civil Service System
Once again, my blog post borrows from the writing of Dr. Karen Ilika, a retired physician. As a respected professional in her field and a former member of the military, she understands the value of trained and experienced employees who serve the public independent of political influence. The following three essays explain what is at stake in the upcoming election in regard to public employees. I appreciate Dr. Ilika’s willingness to share her writing with my blog subscribers and the public. You can read other posts from Dr. Ilika on her Facebook page: http://facebook.com/karen.ilika.
Why I Vote by Dr. Karen Ilika
37 days to the General Election
I vote to keep those departments that exist for the public good in the hands of experts carrying out government functions.
DJT has pledged to privatize or eliminate many offices and programs currently run by the federal government, employing public service employees with special expertise and dedication to acting in the public interest. He plans to eliminate the Deparmentt of Education, privatize (make for-profit) the Veteran’s Administration, the Transportation Security Administration and the National Flood Insurance Program to name a few, saving the Federal Government some money and putting the burden on individual states. He also has his sights set on the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security for major “overhauls”.
Climate change denial is popular among the MAGA crowd, so he also targets programs that develop clean energy and monitor effects of climate change. That is how the National Weather Service has come under his scrutiny with plans to dismantle the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). There is also the factor of a long held grudge.
With Hurricane Helene wrecking havoc across the southeastern states in our country this week, it is good to remember that the National Weather Service is staffed by actual experts whose goals are to do a great job for the people of the country without any other agenda. DJT wants to privatize this organization, and I can only guess at how loyalty to DJT would distort the reliability of the information we would receive. Remember in 2019 when he took an official map of the predicted course of Hurricane Dorian and used a black sharpie to make it look like it was headed for Alabama, despite the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations projections to the contrary?
Trump had made a public comment erroneously saying that Alabama was among the states that would be hit by the hurricane. He then altered the map he displayed at a White House conference to depict that outcome. This of course alarmed the residents of Alabama and had citizens calling the local weather bureau. The weather bureau in turn reassured residents that Alabama was not expected to experience hurricane conditions. This angered DJT who ordered an official retraction and NOAA subsequently issued a somewhat watered-down statement saying that the “tropical storm Dorian could impact Alabama.”
Months later the results of multiple investigations confirmed that NOAA had violated the agency’s “scientific integrity policy” by surrendering to the pressure being put on them by DJT. On one side was the administration trying to conceal DJT’s refusal to admit he spoke without knowing the facts and on the other side were dedicated public servants doing what they could to ensure public safety and avoid unnecessarily panicking the people of Alabama. DJT’s intimidation tactics worked.
It should concern all of us that the integrity of scientific data could be corrupted and politicized to sooth DJT’s ego. He certainly did the same with his mishandling of the pandemic, substituting his grandiose opinions for actual data and medical best practices.
I vote to keep science safe from political agendas.
Protect Public Employees from Loyalty Oaths
Why I Vote by Dr. Karen Ilika
33 days to the General Election
I vote in appreciation for the many dedicated civil servants who work for the benefit of all Americans.
There are about 2 million career civil servants, those folks who are employed by the government and provide services to the public. They are professionals who are hired based on their qualifications and merit and provide continuity when administrations turn over. Prior to 1883, these positions were up for grabs and awarded by politicians in power. A competitive hiring process was introduced and over the next 100 years the U.S. government slowly developed a professionalized, public-oriented civil service. Laws were enacted to protect these workers to help the government serve all citizens rather than serve a politicians agenda. They cannot be fired for political reasons. These protections were threatened by an executive order made by DJT near the end of his term.
In October 2020, DJT issued an executive order that would have allowed him to fire civil servants that he thought were “disloyal” to him. He was particularly irked by Dr. Anthony Fauci who would not go along with his prediction that Covid would “disappear like magic” or Sally Yates, the DOJ lawyer who refused to enforce his illegal Muslim ban. He sought to reclassify thousands of employees under a new classification called Schedule F. His plan was then to replace these people with loyalists who might be more willing to carry out his agenda without regard for the science or law. The next month he lost the election to Joe Biden who rescinded the order in January 2021.
There are many thousands of political appointees who serve each administration and are replaced at the pleasure of the President when the new administration moves into the White House. Trump has pledged to pass reforms to "make every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States.”
A few examples of federal civil service jobs include national security analyst, public health worker, Veterans Administration positions, civil engineers, park service and various scientists (meteorology, marine biologist, and others). One agency that is staffed by civil servants is the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) responsible for protecting public health by evaluating the safety of drugs and providing health data that is scientifically based.
During the Trump administration and the Covid pandemic the FDA was pressured to speed up approval of medications of dubious value, some actually dangerous. DJT made the accusation that this was an intentional effort to harm his reelection chances. Thankfully they did not approve the treatments suggested by Trump, such as injecting bleach and inserting ultraviolet lights into various orifices. Without job protection, the highly trained doctors, biologists, statisticians and laboratory scientists would have been at the mercy of DJT’s “you’re fired” MO with little reason not to seek higher paying and more stable positions in the private sector.
I vote to prevent DJT from dismantling the Civil Service and installing loyalists who would prioritize his agenda over service to and the safety of the public.
Vote Against Candidates with little Public Service Experience
Why I Vote by Dr. Karen Ilika
34 days to the General Election
I vote for experience in governing and public service.
DJT is the ONLY former President of the United States to have been elected WITHOUT a history of public service. Every other successful candidate for President had held an elected or appointed office previously or had reached a high rank during a military career (George Washington, Ulysses S Grant, and Dwight D Eisenhower). In fact, the combined service of 4 years as President for DJT and 5.5 years for JDVance (including 4 in a lower ranking military position, and 1.5 as Senator) may represent the least experienced ticket ever to run in our 250 year history.
If you look at how Trump governed during his term in office and how he campaigns in the current election, there are certain patterns that are obvious and call out his prior experience as coming from a very wealthy family, being a real estate developer, businessman, reality TV personality and salesman. It certainly doesn’t demonstrate a gift for public service or an interest in actual governing.
In 1968, DJT obtained a diagnosis of “bone spurs” to secure a deferment from military service during Viet Nam, and joined his father’s real estate business, Trump Management. I assume this was where his father, Fred Trump, taught him how to use government programs and banks to fraudulently enrich himself. Fred had previously been investigated by the Senate Banking Committee for abusing a loan-guarantee program meant to encourage construction of affordable housing. He admitted to intentionally reporting higher than actual construction costs in order to obtain large guaranteed loans from commercial banks. He used the extra cash to fund a shopping center that he then owned outright. Fred was barred from obtaining future federal loan guarantees and repaid the state of NY. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
After a mere 3 years, his father appointed him president of the business and the brand was later changed to Trump Organization. They owned and managed over 10,000 rental real estate units in New York that were racially segregated by utilizing illegal rental policies. In 1973, Fred and Donald were sued for violating the Fair Housing Act, after multiple complaints from minorities alleging racial discrimination. According to a recent NYT article “Donald Trump’s first quoted words in The New York Times expressed his view of the charges: “They are absolutely ridiculous.” “We never have discriminated,” he added, “and we never would.”
The Trumps engaged Roy Cohn as their lawyer and countersued for damage to their reputation (sound familiar?). The countersuit was dismissed by the judge and they settled, by consent decree, for an undisclosed amount of damages and were required to place ads to attract minority renters, report their vacancies monthly, have the Urban League fill a percentage of the vacancies and refrain from illegal housing practices. According to the Civil Rights Clearinghouse, ‘The Justice Department called the decree “one of the most far-reaching ever negotiated.” Newspaper headlines echoed that assessment with the headline “Minorities win housing suit,” and told readers that “qualified Blacks and Puerto Ricans now have the opportunity to rent apartments owned by Trump Management.”’
The settlement included a negotiated disclaimer of liability which DJT has since misrepresented as “In the end the government couldn’t prove its case, and we ended up making a minor settlement without admitting any guilt.”
Roy Cohen became his mentor and the pattern of committing fraud, breaking the law, lying and denying was established over 50 years ago. It is well ingrained and is his default MO to this day.
I vote to prevent an unqualified serial grifter who is not interested in governing for the people from regaining the office of POTUS.