Published: December 1, 2000
Short
or Long Line for Political Jobs?
By Emory Curtis
When you read this column there is
a good chance that Florida courts or Florida vote counters will have decided
whether George W. Bush or Al Gore will be entitled to be addressed as
Mr. President in the future...In any case, in the next few weeks there
will be a coterie of 40 or 50 thousand individuals trying to get in on
those 6,000 or so political appointee jobs the administration will fill.
Which candidate gets that title determines
the makeup of the coterie jostling to get to the job payoff window.
The late Joseph Alioto, when he was elected Mayor of San Francisco,
pointed out who shouldn't be in the line.
Joe said, "You don't cash loser tickets in at the payoff window."
Who will be president is in doubt now.
However, if Gore wins there is no doubt Bush supporters will be
convinced that Gore won because of shenanigans in vote counting with shifting
standards; if Bush wins, Gore supporters know it is because Florida Republican
leaders stopped the hand counting of ballots to keep Gore from getting
credit for all of his votes.
Losers of a tight race who really believe
their loss was caused by winners' illegal acts will have a bitter feeling
toward the winner and those whom they blame for their candidate's loss.
That bitter taste will remain for a long time as measured in years,
not months. Look at Clinton-haters
now or, for the graybeards among you, look back at the Nixon-haters, like
me. We never forgave Nixon for
his treatment of Helen Douglass in a congressional race about 50 years
ago.
In the end, Bush or Gore will sit in
the Oval Office and make decisions that directly impacts on U. S. domestic
and foreign policy which will be implemented under the direction of those
6,000 or so administration political appointees.
Policy actions, in terms of anyone's
black agenda, will be just about non-existent, for good reasons. Bush got less than ten percent of the black
vote so, obviously, our organizations have only losers tickets in their
pockets. As for Gore, certainly
he would look backwards and try to emulate Clinton's actions in holding
on to black voters.
The November 20 issue of Jet summed
up their view of why Clinton was the most popular president ever among
blacks. According to Jet, he named
seven black special presidential assistants, spoke to a lot of black churches,
wrote many proclamations, and served as a White House host for numerous
gatherings. Gore can do that;
without spending any of his political capital.
After all, under Clinton's watch, the
prison population about doubled with blacks being 46% of the male prison
population in 1999, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. They
also reported that, in 1999, 9.4% of black males age 25 to 29 were in
prison while only 1% of whites and 3.1% of Hispanics were in that same
predicament. . Obviously, the increasing prison population and the increasing
number of black males in prison cost Clinton no political capital among
us.
As for Bush, I'm sure that he will
also try to emulate Clinton's performance by talking a good game and making
enough black appointments to put him far ahead of any other Republican
president and in league with some of the laggard Democratic presidents.
With all of the black organizations
and just about all of the prominent black leaders holding losing tickets
in their pockets, the few blacks with winning ticket will find a short
line with few quality applicants lining up at the pay-off window.
That's the opposite of Gore's problem.
With every black organization of any stature whatsoever behind
his gathering an unprecedented percent of the black votes in the election,
Gore will find the applicant line leading to the payoff window long with
quality applicants galore. In terms of appointments, Gore can and should easily exceed Clinton's
record.
Because of the bitter election ending
and the almost even split in Congress, the new president needs to hit
the ground running January 20, 2001.
And he can only do that if his crew - from Cabinet members on down
- is ready to take over all through the government.
With either Bush or Gore winning, there
will be applicants galore lined up at the payoff window. Just staffing the operation will be easy; getting
quality staff in those positions will be difficult and will take time. That's a good reason for this Florida travesty
to have ended before you read this column.
However, don't count on it. Inventive lawyers can make a molehill look
like a mountain, and well meaning and serious temporary workers can make
weird decisions in deciding whether a ballot represents a real vote or
not. That's why you shouldn't be surprised if no
clean and prompt decision is made on who can occupy Oval Office this January.
Let me hear from you: (916) 961-1859 (V); (916) 961-1596 (FAX); e-mail; eccurtis@hotmail.com. or 8931 Bluff Lane, Fair Oaks, CA 95628.
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