FCW Insider: Open season on government workers

This missive comes to us from Anne Armstrong, the president of the 1105 Government Information Group, FCW's parent organization:

As the conventions made clear, both political parties are running against “Washington.” I’m not exactly sure what Washington they think isn’t working (my suggestion would be Congress), but we know the pitch works as every candidate I can remember since Ronald Reagan has run on the promise of fixing a broken government.

Gov. Sarah Palin suggested that government was too big. People always say that until we have an E. coli outbreak that's when there are questions about why we don’t have more scientists and food inspectors. Or a hurricane hits, and everyone wants to know where are the feds and the relief workers.

The New York Times on Thursday editorialized about the difficulty of running against themselves as both candidates are part of this nonworking government.

Sen. John McCain said, “We were elected to change Washington and we let Washington change us.”

I’m sure that there are plenty of examples of parts of government that need to be fixed, but candidates never seem to provide any specifics about what they are going to change and how. And as they leave, the next candidate picks up the mantle and starts the whole process over.

They never seem to know the hard working, mission driven government workers that we see every day.

Folks who could earn a lot more in the private sector and stay in government because they believe in their agency’s mission. And we wonder why bright young people don’t want to join the government.

But I’m a realist and for the next several months, it is going to be open season on government workers.

So batten down the hatches.

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