What he should be doing is cutting the budget and laying off many of 
these folks...

==================================


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/11/16/AR2008111602440_pf.html

Obama Wrote Federal Staffers About His Goals
Workers at Seven Agencies Got Detailed Letters Before Election 

By Carol D. Leonnig 
Washington 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 censorship from scientific research, and to champion 
tougher industry regulation to protect workers and the environment. He 
made it clear that the Department of Housing and Urban Development would 
have an enhanced role in restoring public confidence in the housing 
market, shaken because of the ongoing mortgage crisis.

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 Transportation 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.

"I asked him to put it in writing, something I could use with my 
members, and he didn't flinch," said John Gage, president of the 600,000-
member American Federation of Government Employees, who requested that 
Obama write the letters, which were distributed through the union. "The 
fact that he's willing to put his name to it is a good sign."

The letters, all but one written Oct. 20, reveal a candidate adeptly 
tailoring his message to a federal audience and tapping into many 
workers' dismay at funding cuts and workforce downsizing in the Bush 
years. Many of Obama's promises would require additional funding, 
something he acknowledged would be difficult to achieve under the 
current economic conditions.

Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the letters were intended to 
communicate to federal workers his position on their agencies.

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.

Some worry that Obama may have overpromised, with program changes and 
worker benefits that would be impossible to achieve. "That strikes me as 
smart politics," said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees 
for Environmental Responsibility. "We'll soon find out if he can deliver 
when he has to deliver his first budget."

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 leadership 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.

Ruch said that if Obama cuts Pentagon spending, he will not have to work 
hard to help the other six agencies.

"These domestic discretionary programs are peanuts in the grand scale of 
things," Ruch said. "A small diversion from the Iraq conflict, if they 
were put into Interior, EPA or NASA, those agencies would be in their 
salad days. The National Park Service is laboring under a [maintenance] 
backlog that would be cured by a month and a half of Iraq expenditures."

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.

Gage said Obama would cut deeply into agencies he finds lacking, and the 
National Taxpayers Union says there is plenty of opportunity for 
savings. Congress last year refused to consider a 25 percent cut for 220 
federal programs the government rated as ineffective, passing up a 
savings of $17 billion a year. Obama did not vote on the measure while 
he was a senator from Illinois.

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 support 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."

Gage said he is not expecting every civil servant's wish to be granted 
but he is hopeful.

"I think Obama's going to be fair, he's going to take seriously the 
missions of these agencies, and he's going to respect federal 
employees," Gage said. "After the last eight years, that's good enough 
for me."

Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Patriotism is not who can leak the most Secret documents to the NY Times ...


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