So, we’ve discussed when does the media call the President a liar- or not.  Why the House Republicans want to kill the Committee on Government Ethics.   And, today…

The House Republicans want to revive a dishonored practice from 150 years ago.  The Holman Rule.  That rule might have made sense back when government jobs were issued via patronage (exactly how many Congressman want them issued now). Congress could attack a specific employee- lowering that person’s pay to $ 1.  But, we switched to the merit system that now governs the 2.1 million US government employees.

Why would someone want to cut an employee’s pay to $ 1?  Because the merit system still precludes anyone from firing a US civil servant- without just cause.  Since Congress knows they lack cause, this practice will let them make that person’s employment untenable.

So much for insulating our venerable government employees from political pressure.  (You might want to recall that it is ILLEGAL for these same employees to participate in political parties, to campaign for office, etc.)

And, just like the desecration of the ethics rules was the brainchild of a misguided Virginia Congressman (Bob Goodlatte), so is this one. This fellow doesn’t come from the Shenandoah Valley area, though- H. Morgan Griffith is from Southwest Virginia, better known as coal country.  (You guessed it- he probably wants to hurt those folks overseeing the environmental and energy rules that keep us all safe.)   Griffith is a member of the Freedom Caucus (you do know that names like this always stand for things OTHER than Freedom)- a Tea Party cognate.

And, just like the proposed Ethics rescission, the Holman Rule will be snuck through Congress as part of an omnibus (that means “kitchen sink”) rules package.   Because the GOP hopes the US citizenry won’t notice this heinous act for what it is.

Oh, sure, Griffith claims this improves accountability.  (Have you notice that Congress is NOT accountable for breaking the rules on wage practice?  Sexual discrimination?  Bribery [Oh, I know they call that campaign donations])?

It should be worthwhile to note that Steny Hoyer, a middle-of-the road to conservative Democratic member of the House- was among the first to decry this concept.  He clearly stated that the GOP routinely criticized federal employees as scapegoats.  And this rule could be used to afford anyone to amend ANY bill to cut the jobs of federal employees by cutting their pay to $ 1 a year.   Without this rule, the budget of an agency would have to be cut- not specific programs (like those the manage the Clean Air Act or the Clean Water Act) or a particular employee.

Remember that claim that it was a “misguided employee” of the Trump transition team that wanted detailed information about every action that the Department of Energy scientists effected on climate change?

Yeah.  Now, you know it had specific malevolent intent.

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