From today's Wa****ngton Post, expurgated:
Obama Wrote Federal Staffers About His Goals
Workers at Seven Agencies Got Detailed Letters Before Election
By Carol D. Leonnig
Wa****ngton Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 17, 2008; A01
In wooing federal employee votes on the eve of the election, Barack
Obama wrote a series of letters to workers that offer detailed
descriptions of how he intends to add muscle to specific government
programs, give new power to bureaucrats and roll back some Bush
administration policies.
The letters, sent to employees at seven agencies, describe Obama's
intention to:
scale back on contracts to private firms doing government work
to remove censor****p from scientific research
to champion tougher industry regulation to protect workers and the
environment.
Using more specifics than he did on the campaign trail, Obama said he
would add staff to erase the backlog of Social Security disability
claims. He said he would help Trans****tation Security Administration
officers obtain the same bargaining rights and workplace protections as
other federal workers. He even expressed a desire to protect the
Environmental Protection Agency's library system, which the Bush
administration tried to eliminate.
In a letter to Labor Department employees, Obama wrote: "I believe that
it's time we stopped talking about family values and start pursuing
policies that truly value families, such as paid family leave, flexible
work schedules, and telework, with the federal government leading by
example."
Obama wrote to employees in the departments of Labor, Defense, Housing
and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs, along with the TSA, the EPA
and the Social Security Administration. Defense was the only area in
which he did not make promises requiring additional spending, the
letters show.
Obama repeatedly echoed in his correspondence the longstanding lament of
federal workers -- that the Bush administration starved their agencies
of staff and money to the point where they could not do their jobs.
In his letter to Labor Department employees, Obama said Bush appointees
had thwarted the agency's mission of keeping workers safe, especially in
mines. "Our mine safety program will have the staffing . . . needed to
get the job done," he wrote.
Obama lamented to EPA staffers that Americans' health and the planet
have been "jeopardized outright" because of "inadequate funding" and
"the failed leader****p of the past eight years, despite the strong and
ongoing commitment of the career individuals throughout this agency."
In his letter to Defense Department workers, Obama said he would examine
flaws in pay and evaluation systems, but offered no high-cost initiatives.
While pledging money to some agencies, Obama also acknowledged that some
cuts may be unavoidable.
"Because of the fiscal mess left behind by the current Administration,
we will need to look carefully at all departments and programs," he
wrote to HUD workers.
His letter to HUD employees suggests a resurgence of the huge housing
agency. Obama insisted that "HUD must be part of the solution" to the
housing crisis and to keeping an estimated 5.4 million more families
from losing homes in foreclosure. Several HUD employees cheered Obama's
letter, saying they hoped one particular line foreshadowed the end of
political appointees who didn't care or know much about the agency's work.
"I am committed to appointing a Secretary, Deputy and Assistant
Secretaries who are committed to HUD's mission and capable of executing
it," Obama wrote.
Obama also took aim at the Bush administration's focus on privatization,
with contractors hired to perform government jobs -- often at princely
sums. He complained that a $1.2 billion contract to provide TSA with
human resources sup****t unfairly blocked federal employees from
competing to do that work.
"We plan specifically to look at work that is being contracted out to
ensure that it is fiscally responsible and effective," he told HUD
workers. "It is dishonest to claim real savings by reducing the number
of HUD employees overseeing a program but increase the real cost of the
program by transferring oversight to contracts. I pledge to reverse this
poor management practice."
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Works for me.
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