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Federal News Radio
Do you have the
guts to be a stubborn bureaucrat?
By Mike Causey
March 2, 2016
What’s in a name? Or a label. Sometimes plenty…
You don’t call a Marine a soldier! Not that there’s anything wrong with
that, but it makes a difference to them. Lots of people (including me)
were soldiers, but soldiers are Army. Marines are, well, Marines.
Semper Fi!
By the same token, you don’t butter up your boss by saying that,
for a girl, she’s really, smart, capable and steady. You just don’t.
You don’t say the Democrat Party. It’s the Democratic Party. Dropping
the “ic” part is considered as much putdown as calling somebody from
the Tea Party a Tea Bagger. Close-sounding, but not the same. Just not
a good idea.
A Chevy is the nickname for a popular American car, like my 2007. But
it’s pronounced “shevee.” Not like Chevy Chase, Maryland, or Chevy
Chase the actor.
Government press officers don’t appreciate being called flacks, anymore
than newspaper reporters (who often refer to flacks) like being called
hacks.
There are some things, words and phrases that can offend, either by
accident or design.
Take the word “bureaucrat”.
Please.
Most people know (or think they know) what a bureaucrat is. Or what
they mean when they say it. But it is rarely a term of endearment or
praise. Like maybe never …
So when House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) tells his colleagues
to use the word bureaucrat (very carefully) they should listen. His
Maryland congressional district is chock full of federal offices. And
the people who work in them. Hoyer has a long history with feds. He’s
been in the House leadership (in both minority and majority roles)
almost forever. When President Bill Clinton tried to freeze, then hold
down federal pay raises, Hoyer rounded up fellow Democrats to get
bigger annual raises for feds. Former OPM Director John Berry — now
U.S. Ambassador to Australia — worked for Hoyer for many years. He
handled federal employee matters, and was instrumental in getting them
bigger raises than the White House proposed. Bottom line: Feds don’t
have any better, or well-placed, friend in politics.
The National Treasury Employees Union held its annual legislative
conference here last week. Hoyer was one of the featured speakers.
After calling for less bickering and partisanship in Congress,
Government Executive said he brought the house down when he told union
delegates “nothing makes me angry like hearing a member on the floor of
the House use ‘bureaucrat’ as an epithet.” Which is really about the
only way it’s ever used.
Most people know (or think they know) what a bureaucrat is. Or what
they mean when they say it. But it is rarely a term of endearment or
praise. Like maybe never …
But sometimes a stubborn bureaucrat can be a hero. For instance …
In the 2015 New York Times obituary of Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, a
former FDA drug reviewer, the B-word was used. But in a heroic sense,
to make a point.
Back in 1960, she blocked approval of a drug (popular in Europe and
especially Germany) to treat morning sickness. The drug was called
Thalidomide and it produced thousands of babies born with abnormally
short arms, or legs like flippers. Kelsey was under tremendous pressure
— from a powerful drug company and some of her bosses — to clear the
drug. She refused. She argued, correctly but with a lot of courage,
that its safety hadn’t been proven. Fortunately. It prevented
thousands, maybe millions of American women, from access to the drug.
President John F. Kennedy later gave her a medal. But at the time she
was being so “stubborn” she was called a “petty bureaucrat.” And worse.
Some bureaucrat!!!
Read this and other articles at Federal News Radio
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