so this means he can’t rise to the “heck of a job” level?
I still don’t entirely understand why he’s going home all the time with this caravan of vehicles filled with staffers who stay in hotels. I’m not entirely ready to accept that vague word-cloud about how since forever they maintain the continuity of government by having staffers ordering room service while the director chills at home, or why we’re hearing that his boss suggested resignation as an option in light of this utterly normal practice, or why this supposedly normal and time-honored practice suddenly needs new policies governing it, and, well, any of it. I. Am. Tired. Of. This.
ETA Ok just read the WSJ piece. It seems he’s well liked at FEMA and has a creditable history in the field. Also some of the funky travel was, in fact, based on standard practices. It may be a thing where the general laxity of the administration made him figure he could push the envelope, the way people do when nobody seems to care about ethics and rules, and he discovered where the line was because they told him he was over it. Dunno but it does happen.
Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing…
Confederacy of Grifters
So I guess he’s saying he needs actual policies to specifically tell him what’s appropriate because his moral compass is irretrievably broken?
The way Trump’s appointees have behaved would be grossly inappropriate in the private sector and even more so in government. No wonder they can’t find a job after leaving this Administration. Who would want such rampantly corrupt and incompetent buffoons?
First qualification needed to be in Donnie Short Fingers criminal operation is to know how to grift the taxpayer.
“It’s my understanding that maybe some policies were not developed around these vehicles that we will get cleared up and push forward.”
It’s my understanding
I didn’t check, and wasn’t about to, because what if someone said I couldn’t?
that maybe
Probably not, so I made sure not to confirm
some policies were not developed
Policies just fall from the sky or are spontaneously generated. It’s not like there is some office or some person I could contact to figure out what the policies are
around these vehicles
Gonna try to limit the scope of the discussion and inquiry to “these vehicles.” Please cooperate.
that we will get cleared up
Just a little housekeeping. Boring stuff. Move on.
push forward
Why are we all talking about the past here? Did you all get the handout breaking down the supplies we have staged for Florence? We’ve got 30,000 pallets of bottled water, which is over 40% more than FEMA has ever had ready before.
It wouldn’t be controversial had he merely spent every weekend golfing.
I don’t have access. Do you have more detail here?
I’m wondering if the term “standard practices” might be getting stretched beyond its natural boundaries here. For example, it might be “standard practice” for situations that aren’t routine commutes home for a weekend.
Alternatively, I’m wondering if it has become “standard practice” only because leadership wasn’t particularly interested in maintaining “proper practice.” You suggested that “the general laxity of the administration” could be a cause. I’m just speculating that the initial development of such “standard practice” may have occurred long ago is now a contagion waiting to happen – when fiscal hygiene is slack, we get an outbreak of abusive travel spending.
His white nationalist boss would surely install someone less capable, so keep him on for now – after making it clear that his “standard practices” are not permissible going forward and after an audit to identify egregious abuses that require him to reimburse the agency.
Can’t say I’m anything but disgusted with his comment blaming some of the PR hurricane deaths on spousal abuse.
I don’t really, the story itself did more suggesting than laying out exactly how it violated the rules. Figure there are probably fairly detailed guidelines for what you can and can’t do, and he went over the line and in particular continued after some sort of warning to cool it with the going home with this small army of staffers all the time. That was my impression.
It may be a thing where the general laxity of the administration made him figure he could push the envelope,
I suppose, with a precedent who believes that the lack of scandals in the Obama admin was a result of Holder’s doing his job by quashing and covering them up, the tone of the chief executive goes a long way towards accounting for the obvious venality of his subordinates. Treating budgets as slush funds and department resources as personal conveniences seems to follow pretty naturally from that.
Kinda like, oh, Scott Pruitt.
Yeah, some of the policies weren’t developed, the numbers on Maria are “all over the place” and how can anybody really “know” anything anyway. If “Cogito ergo sum.”, this guy clearly does not exist.
There is more to this than meets the eye. NPR had a piece that makes the case that this is a dispute between the director of Homeland Security and Long, apparently she wants him out and one of the reasons could be that there is no number two and the third is a close friend of the director and she want them in that slot. I would not put that past anyone in this administration as it appears in fast becoming the most corrupt in our history.
Some policies weren’t developed…
This is pure, unadulterated bullshit. Policies regarding federal government vehicles and their use have been in place for decades. When I worked for USDA in the early 80s they were in place.
Taking a vehicle home was permissible, but it had be cleared and it had to be justified as being in the Agency’s best interest. For example, if you had a 20 mile commute to work, and your trip was heading in your direction you might be able to get it approved. If your trip involved an early morning meeting that required you to leave before normal duty hours, you might be able to get it approved. (In the second case, it was more likely that you’d be told by my boss to submit mileage.)
“I want to drive home because I don’t want to drive my car,” that reason isn’t flying anywhere.
“There’s a lot of issues with
numberspolicies being all over the place. It’s hard to tell what’s accurate and what’s not.”
Thanks for breaking it down for me!
So, has it all been flung around so that there’s none left?