Springer Responds

At least one person begs to differ with John Berry's characterization of the Office of Personnel Management's decision-making regarding weather delays or closures---his predecessor, Linda Springer.

During a news conference on Thursday, Berry said that he would make all weather-related decisions by 4 a.m., and implied that OPM had erred in the past by waiting too long to make an announcement.

Here's Springer's response, which was e-mailed to Government Executive:

Over the course of three winter seasons from 2005-2008 during my tenure as OPM director, I always made the closing decision in time for a 4:00 a.m. announcement. The OPM team rapidly executed the announcement release to all recipients as evidenced by the almost instantaneous television news coverage.

It's disappointing to see Director Berry follow the unfortunate practice of criticizing prior administrations, but if he is going to do so, he should be more explicit and not leave open the possibility that the "past" includes my tenure and many of the dedicated career professionals who serve him now.

During the news conference, Berry said he didn't know the specifics of OPM's previous policy.