That’s what you do when administration officials act suspiciously.
This one goes out to all those Democratic staffer new hires out there:
Rep. Darrell Issa, the conservative firebrand whose specialty is lobbing corruption allegations at the Obama White House, is making plans to hire dozens of subpoena-wielding investigators if Republicans win the House this fall.
[snip]
Issa has told Republican leadership that if he becomes chairman, he wants to roughly double his staff from 40 to between 70 and 80. And he is not subtle about what that means for President Barack Obama.
Be wary.
I mean, I know that your first inclination is to think to use it as campaign fodder. Disabuse yourself of that notion: there is a very long list of Democratic-held seats where the electorate will consider Issa’s plan a promise to be redeemed, rather than a threat to be avoided. And if bringing this up has to act as a viable firewall in hardcore liberal seats then the Democratic party is in major trouble anyway. Well, more major trouble.
No, what you staffers need to start doing now is disaster prep. Now is the time that you need to start demanding everything in writing, insisting that everything is documented, and refusing to let procedures slide ‘just this once.’ You need to make sure that you have a document trail for everything, no matter how obscure or innocuous. Really, you should have been doing this since day one, but if you work at it for the next seven months, you should be able to get everything back-dated and squared away by January 2011.
Productivity? Productivity is your boss’s worry. Your worry is to stay out of prison. This isn’t 2002: you don’t work for an administration that rewards loyalty, and you certainly don’t work for an administration that will shy away from throwing you to the wolves. In fact, you are there precisely to be thrown to the wolves, if need be. Nobody’s going to value your hide more than you will, in other words – so start valuing it.
Because it’s almost July – and they told you that it would never get this bad politically in the first place, remember?
Moe Lane