Cross posted at Turn Maine Blue
You may recall the warnings from the whackos on the far left, that those behind the Bush administration had found a nefarious way to make their legacy long lasting - by hiring ideologues as civil servants, in positions high enough so that they could prove to be an obstacle for a Democratic president, should s/he be elected, but not so high that they were a political appointment - that is, these moles could work their damage without fear of being fired.
Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic is reporting that the Agency that dissented in the OMB's findings that we mentioned earlier was Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, and more:
Make the jump:
If you think the Office of Advocacy's job is to be an advocate for small businesses, you'd be right. In fact, the OOA is a Congressional chartered, independent agency within the SBA. Its director is a political appointee, and its staff are not career members of the civil service. Many of them have been at the job for years, and it would not be uncharitable to assume that they're familiar with the language used by corporate America.
The previous "chief advocate" left before President Bush's term expired, and Bush installed a temporary chief to manage the transition. That chief -- Shawne McGibbon -- remains in charge of the OOA and its staff. According to this directory, regulatory reviews are handled by someone named Joseph M. Johnson. Johnson once served as a research fellow at the Mercatus Institute at George Mason University, an organization that is well respected and takes a skeptical view of government regulation.
One need only do a small amount of searching for Mr. Johnson's name when it becomes clear that: a) there a lot of men named Joseph M. Johnson; and b) Johnson has done a lot of work with W. Mark Crain, who also worked at the Office of Advocacy and George Mason University's Mercatus Center.
Chris Bowers at MYDD had more on the Mercatus Center in January 2005:
Since 1985, the Mercatus Institute has received 513 grants totaling $45,347,884. Their top donors have been as follows:
* Koch Family (Includes Claude Lambe Foundation): $24,258,797
* Olin Foundation: $7,530,824
* Scaife Family (includes Carthage Foundation): $5,031,000
* Bradley Foundation: $2,5544,050
* Barre Seid: $2,212,000
* Earhart Foundation: $996,348
* McKenna: $265,000
* Jacquelin Hume Foundation: $260,000
* Smith Richardson: $254,315
* The Walton Family (Wal-Mart): $120,000
* JM Foundation: $85,000
* Castle Rock Foundation: $75,000
The top twelve donors to the Mercatus Institute include the entire top nine conservative donors. The other three are "conservative angel" Barre Seid, big-time conservative donor Jacquelin Hume, and the Walton family. Together, these twelve sources of funding make up over 95% of the Mercatus Institute's funding since it was founded in 1985. Several of the smaller donors not listed here are also uber-conservative donors.
Just to give you an idea of the point of view of Joseph Johnson, here is this piece he wrote with Wendy L. Gramm, From the Mouth of Labor (yes, from a quote by Thomas Jefferson):
Our new study sheds light on the burden [on businesses] of workplace regulations — mandates aimed at enhancing workplace safety, preventing discrimination, improving worker pay and benefits. This study catalogues the state of current research on the cost of workplace mandates and concludes that workplace regulations cost Americans at least $91 billion per year.
You get the idea.
So, is Joseph M. Johnson the first of these alleged moles planted by the Neocons, in a position to wreak havoc on the new administration, or is it just a coincidence.
You tell me.