Captain Cronyism, George Bush, has once again nominated a well-connected buddy—who like Brownie is totally unqualified—to head an important federal agency. This time, her name is Julie L. Myers and she’s the new head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), an agency with an annual budget of $4 billion and 20,000 employees. The Agency is responsible for, as pointed out by the Washington Post, “preventing terrorists and weapons from entering the country.” To make matters worse, Bush intentionally made this appointment (and several others) while Congress was in recess, “circumventing the need for approval by the Senate.” Myers has been attacked by Republicans and Democrats as being unqualified. As reported by The National Review in September:
“Given the importance of the position and a history of mismanagement in the immigration service, Congress took the unusual step of inserting a statutory requirement that nominees have a minimum of five years of experience in both management and law enforcement….Her most relevant previous experience was managing only 170 employees and a $25 million budget while at the Commerce department.”
Nevertheless, Myers is the niece of former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Richard B. Myers and is married to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s chief of staff. You know, she’s a crony. Bush’s audacity never ceases to amaze us. Read the Wash Post article here.
