Return to Article: Kerry, Edwards unveil plan to cut managers, trim bureaucracy
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5824
I have worked in the Gov't long enough to know that trimming bureaucracy is nothing more than reducing field staff while increasing political appointees that have NO earthly idea what is truly going on and increasing workload.
Want to know how to trim some of the fat off the hog? Get rid of the dead weight. Gov't does a good job at promoting the worthless. Some supervisors out there just plain suck. They have no skills to motivate or even lead, but yet they are in charge. Also they are the ones actually on travel the most. My supervisor got to go to Australia just because one of her employees was presenting a paper. Then comes back and rubs it in all our faces.
Yet another example. I recently traveled for a training meeting and was told not to even try and save the gov't money. It was going to cost around $800 to fly to my meeting, but if I drove it would be less than $150 round trip. I ended driving AND getting in trouble for not requesting to drive. I was told after the fact not to try and save money. I guess that since I am a Gov't employee and not a taxpaying citizen that I should not be appalled at their comment.
One last example is that I work in DC and I have noticed that even though I have a two secretaries that are supposed to be my administrative support, I find that I am spending time ordering supplies, making sure copying is done, filing and mail room. I believe that this issue is more along the line of work ethic and nepotism, which by the way that is another big issue as well.
Most Gov't employees love their job and do it because we believe that what we do really help people. I did not join the Gov't to be a millionaire.
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5762
Too many supervisors? How can that be, my new supervisor sat around for three years supervising no one. Now she has two people to micromanage and she is elated. Get rid of them before you get one of them. During Clinton we talked about 15 to one and of course we did nothing to make it happen, just talk.
Talk is all this is folks, we work for the government and they do not change their mindset they adjust to the new boss. Very simple in my book, I have been watching it for 27 years and it doesn't change.
By the way, Edwards was not a governor he is a Senator.
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5759
If Kerry does win the presidency, a major step towards government savings and cutting management positions would be to get rid of the Defense Security Service or at least privatize it. Getting rid of DSS would set a great example to other agencies who espouse the philosophy of "the more managers the better".
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5751
Do you think they will cut the top positions in DC? Not on your life, they will cut field positions. As to taking days off to play golf - don't you as an employee take days off? It is called annual leave - everyone earns that right - look around you at your fellow employees and yourself.
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5749
I agree with the computer specialist, please everyone, vote for anyone other then Bush.
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5748
I don't view this discussion as Kerry bashing. Instead, I think you're hearing the frustration of those who have read the Weinstein paper. There is frustration over Ms. Kelley's and Mr. Gage's blind and total $ support of the Kerry/Edwards ticket when the first - the No. 1 recomendation of the Weinstein paper to reduce the deficit is to cut 190,000 Federal employees (10 percent)- mostly in the IT areas, 150,000 Federal contract employees and, oh, yes, a few SESers - without any commitment to job competitions or any other kind of analysis. There are more federal employees now than there were under Clinton, so what's the beef? It's party politics not federal employee interests being played out here. It's time to stop fighing competitions and participate in the process. It's time to stop complaining about the contractors that support us and without whom our performance would look even worse. It's time to grow up, be a good government advocate and it's time to ask real questions about what commitments are being made here. I serve this country proudly and put in more than 8 every day. I am tired of the petty grousing. At least with Competitve Sourcing we get to prove ourselves. I see no such commitment in the Weinstein paper. Maybe it was just an oversight. Yeah, right.
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5728
My fellow Americans seem to enjoy bashing the Kerry/Edwards ticket. One man writes that he hasn't heard anything from the Bush Bashers. Another quotes the Author of the paper that Kerry used to suggest these cuts. Another is frantic! I still find it amazing that my fellow workers don't understand the basic Republican philosophy - Divide and conquer. The second rule is - If you can't change their mind then smear their reputation. Do I think there are too many managers in the federal government? You bet I do. Do I think they need to be cut or put out of work? No I don't. The best worker in the world works for this government, and this country. I am proud of my public service. I think that Kerry/Edwards are thinking men. And with thinking men in the White House we will have some sanity again. I have had enough of this lying, low-down, jack-booted administration and its "Ram it down your throat policies". Kerry is for the working man. And George don't feel my pain. But since all of you are really CEO's disguised as federal employees and don't need money, then you should vote for the Bush/Cheney ticket. I know that George and Dick will be grateful.
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5711
Hmm, this must be the Democrats version of mindless and arbitrary quotas. You can bet they are ok with Ms. Kelley and Mr. Gage as long as they don't impact us!!! Wait a minute, this is even more arbitrary. The supervisors that Kerry and Edwards are talking about won't first get to compete for their jobs will they? And oh, we need more front line folks not managers to make sure that the work gets done better, faster or cheaper. Yes sir, now this is a plan that will certainluy encourge and best and brightest to join the Government. Who advises these guys?
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5710
I all for cutting managers and the amount of contractors. I work in a field office which employes about 150 people. Supervisory positions are handed out on the good ole boy network. Vacancies are held open for 1 year just so a buddy can become eligible for a position. More importantly, however, is the fact that it is common practice at this office to have supervisors who only have 4-5 employees under them. So, we have numberous GS-14s or GS-15s supervising. I recently watched two individuals become supervisors. The positions were not advertised. One of the individuals supervises 3 employees and 1 student. The other supervisor has 6 employees. We have other offices just like this. It is ridiculous to pay them high salaries for supervising minimal amounts of people. Let's cut some GS-14 or GS-15 slots and have 9 or 10 people under each. What a novel idea to save taxpayers money!
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5708
Toward the end of the article, it mentions that most of Kerry's positions come from a February paper by Mr. Weinstein. But if you read Mr. Weinstein's paper, it also says that government should cut non Defense/Homeland Security federal workforce by 10%. Anyone want to bet that will only come out if Kerry wins? I find it funny all of the Bush bashers we've been hearing are so quiet responding to this article. Kerry will quickly bring back the Clinton era of cutting more federal jobs and re-inventing government...everyone remember those days?
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5705
All I know is when I see a manager standing around with his/her hands in his/pocket, chatting in another manager's office, taking off for the afternoon to play golf, or just plain standing around and watching lower grade, overworked employees frantically working just to meet their outlandish performance requirements,...I say, RIGHT ON!!! CUT'EM!!!! OUTTAHERE!!!!
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5697
The last paragraph of this article is very interesting, very telling, and lets the reader know just which way the Kerry group leans.
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5695
Senator Kerry and Governor Edwards' plan is apparently to CUT JOBS.
In his statement, Mr. Kerry states that he would eliminate management/supervisory positions; Reduce the number of contract workers employed at agencies by 100,000; eliminate the Office of Thrift Supervision; consolidate many of the 70 different federal statistical agencies; and, merge the Commerce Department's Telecommunications Administration and National Telecommunications and Information Administration into a single agency.
This equates to elimination of jobs for hardworking and dedicated federal and non-federal workers.
His running mate, is just as bad and apparently needs a grammer lesson: "We don't need any more supervisors...We got to get rid of these people," said Edwards.
Also, the statement that he would freeze federal travel funds and then eliminate the only other means of transportation (Government vehicles) for those federal workers to do their jobs is just stupid.
I see these men "grasping" anything they can find to try to show they have a plan, when, in fact, if they read another article tomorrow, their position would probably change for a few days and later, change back again.
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5692
This seems to be a hot topic and rightly so. This issue has been carefully hidden too long. Govenment officials (Bush included)only seem to attack downsizing at the bottom. When they do eliminate at the bottom they fill back at the top. Another management TRICK is the filling of top jobs with high grades and titles which are justified by a huge job description and many duties. Later after the person is positioned within the job management allows the service to hire and thereby farm out a lot of the duties of the original position yet the grade and salary stay the same. Yet another management TRICK which allows them to reward the "good old boy/girl" (who isn't really the best qualified or in most cases completly unqualified), is to lateral an employee into a position. This allows them to place this person without fair and open competition (if there is such a thing anymore). Again, once the individual is in the position, management will add a few additional minor duties and low and behold the individual must receive a promotion due to the additional duties. All politicians talk a good talk but it is rare that they follow through. Say has anyone heard anything recently about term limits and campaign reform? I guess that would be like asking for someone to shoot you in the foot. It AIN'T never going to happen.
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