Christie Todd Whitman is getting the most out of her staff (and then some)
When I worked in Washington, I heard plenty of gossip about the often-demeaning demands public officials would make of their staffers. From what I heard, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson was one of the worst, making someone from her staff pick her up at home every morning, without knocking on the door or using the horn, with her breakfast waiting in the car.
But, as I understood it, these staffers were usually loyal aides working on Capitol Hill for the experience. They did grunt work for a while, then moved up or moved on.
More troubling is news that Christie Todd Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is using the agency’s criminal enforcement agents to run errands and keep her and her family happy.
As the AP explained over the weekend, “EPA agents assigned to investigate environmental crimes have at times been ordered to perform more personal tasks, such as returning a rental car for Whitman’s husband after a trip or sitting at a table until the administrator arrived for a restaurant reservation.”
I know serving in a near-Cabinet level capacity for the president is supposed to have its perks, but using EPA criminal investigators to hold table reservations sounds pretty ridiculous. If a Clinton official pulled this stunt, a dozen GOP lawmakers would be calling for a Justice Dept investigation and holding House hearings on the “scandal” within the week.
But wait, there’s more. Apparently, Whitman, who was New Jersey’s governor before Bush tapped her to head the EPA, has given her employees “professional conduct” lists. The instructions tell staffers to address Whitman as “governor,” instead of “ma’am or administrator.” The lists also “instruct agents who chauffeur the EPA administrator to ensure they rent only a Lincoln Town Car, tune the radio to smooth jazz or classical music and set the volume low, and keep an eye out for a Starbucks coffee shop or Barnes & Noble book store.”
The rental car return, however, is really over the top. Criminal investigators, pulled from their usual responsibilities to boost Whitman’s security detail in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, were used to enforcing environmental laws. Yet, according to the AP article, “One manager said an agent on a security detail was directed by Whitman to return her husband’s rental car to the airport so the Whitmans could catch a flight together.”
Whitman is easily one of the most moderate of all Republicans in Bush’s cabinet, so it’s kind of a shame she’s been so careless about misusing EPA employees for personal convenience. Almost 13 years ago, White House Chief of Staff John Sununu had to resign when the public learned that he had used a government plane to attend a rare-stamp convention. Isn’t Whitman’s use of EPA officials nearly as bad?