Many regular commenters (and some long-time lurkers) at Daily Kos have said at one time or another that they'd like to contribute more directly to holding the Bush administration in check, but don't always know where or how to contribute in areas that the more frequent diarists and bloggers (not to mention journalists) aren't already covering.
Well, here is one thing that almost nobody ever gives the attention it really needs: Presidential nominations.
Except in very rare cases you won't find any mention in the corporate media of new nominations, though obviously we find again and again after the fact that some atrocious Bush appointee has been up to no good behind the scenes. The time to control this problem is before the Senate rubberstamps whomever the President sends down the pike. It's nuts and bolts good government - prevent clowns, incompetents, and ideologues from filling offices and taking advisory roles where they'll screw things up.
Now even under Bush not every nominee is objectionable, but as I've found in watching them fairly closely for a few years, many of them are. New nominations requiring Senate action are posted nearly daily on the White House news site, and a few minutes digging often will tell you whether there's something potentially off about a nominee. If you've never found your niche, this would be a damned good one to help fill.
For example, yesterday there was a longish Personnel Announcement that I've barely had time to pick my way through. Almost purely at random, I decided to do a test-search for one the four new nominees to be Members of the Board of Directors of the National Board of Education Sciences: Frank Philip Handy. The president gets to appoint only 15 voting members to National Board of Education Sciences, so this was a considerable batch of nominees and certainly worth looking into.
A few moments of digging around showed the value of doing basic research. It turns out that Frank Handy has no particular background in science. His undergraduate degree is in Economics and his entire career has been spent in finance, banking, and business.
Why in the world is this man being appointed (for the second time) to this Board - of which he is now Vice Chair? Well, for starters like George Bush he has an MBA from Harvard. Secondly, Jeb Bush appointed Handy to a Florida educational board in 2000. And not surprisingly, Handy is a mover in shaker in the Republican Party - he's part of John McCain's Florida organization. He's also been on the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institute, so very likely Frank Handy is a bit of a nutter.
In short, Handy looks to be the kind of right-wing hack who may be perfectly suited to manage hedge funds, but whose input into education policy generally and science education in particular really isn't likely to be of high quality.
Are presidential nominees worth looking into, is it worthwhile letting your Senators know that second-raters aren't acceptable? I happen to think so. Every once in a while, one of the really awful nominations can be stopped in its tracks.
Here is the full text of the Jan. 17, 2008 Personnel Announcement. I've looked only into Frank Handy's background, but you might well find that there are other objectionable nominations herein.
President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate seven individuals and appoint five individuals to serve in his Administration.
The President intends to nominate Nelson M. Ford, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary of the Army. Mr. Ford currently serves as the Acting Under Secretary of the Army and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management as well as Comptroller of the Army. Prior to this, he served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller of the Army. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Budgets & Financial Policy. Mr. Ford received his bachelor's degree from Duke University and his master's degree from the University of Delaware.
The President intends to nominate Joxel García, of Connecticut, to be Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service and Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services (Health). In addition, the President intends to nominate Dr. García to be Representative of the United States of America on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization. Dr. García currently serves as Senior Vice President and Senior Medical Advisor at MAXIMUS Federal Services, Inc. Prior to this, he served as Deputy Director of the Pan American Health Organization in the Regional Office of the World Health Organization for the Western Hemisphere. Earlier in his career, he served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Dr. García received his degree in pre-medical studies from the University of Puerto Rico, his MD from the Ponce School of Medicine and his MBA from the University of Hartford.
The President intends to nominate Jeffrey J. Grieco, of Virginia, to be Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (Legislative and Public Affairs). Mr. Grieco currently serves as Acting Assistant Administrator (Legislative and Public Affairs) and Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs and Agency Communications at the United States Agency for International Development. Prior to this, he served as President of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers. Earlier in his career, he served as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Stone Street Capital, Inc. Mr. Grieco received his bachelor's degree from the George Washington University and his master's degree from Georgetown University.
The President intends to nominate the following individuals to be Members of the Board of Directors of the National Board of Education Sciences:
Jonathan Baron, of Maryland, for the remainder of a four-year term expiring 11/28/11
Frank Philip Handy, of Florida, for the remainder of a four-year term expiring 11/28/11
Sally Epstein Shaywitz, of Connecticut, for the remainder of a four-year term expiring 11/28/11
Joanne Weiss, of California, for the remainder of a four-year term expiring 11/28/10
The President intends to appoint the following three individuals to be Members of the Board and one individual to be Chairman of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development:
H. H. Barlow, of Kentucky, for the remainder of a four-year term expiring 07/28/09;
William DeLauder, of Delaware, for the remainder of a four-year term expiring 07/28/08 and an additional four-year term expiring 07/28/12;
Keith W. Eckel, of Pennsylvania, for the remainder of a four-year term expiring 07/28/08 and an additional four-year term expiring 07/28/12;
Robert A. Easter, of Illinois, to be Chairman of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development.
The President intends to appoint John M. Townsend, of the District of Columbia, to be a Member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring 06/19/08 and an additional six-year term.