FOCUS of the Presidential-Appointments.org SITE

Updated Sunday, May 16, 2010 10:28 PM

     After a decade of direct study and reporting on the patronage phenomenon in a free government.  Patronage essentially denies the concept of representative government by its very nature, but that contradiction may actually facilitate effective executive policy placement.  Free government is awkward, but representatives of the leadership, when they serve the People and their patron executive loyally and openly is useful.  Patronage is easy to pervert - money and loyalties will do that quickly if not observed in the open by the citizenry.  Sometimes it is in the open - sometimes it is designed to thwart the will of both the People and the President.

     Presidential-Appointments.org has become the most widely ready source of information on the web over the last decade.  In the evolution of the page, two fundamental judgments seem clear about executive patronage:

• While there are genuinely massive amounts of information provided on the internet about executive personnel, it is only the information any given White House and the civil service wants to be there.  That information is far from complete.  Sometimes it is there and very difficult to find, even for experienced scholars, the press, and data gatherers.  Admittedly, the United States government is very very large and complex and information requires some experience to find - but in the overall - unavailable information does not give the People any manageable way to understand their government, its policy and conduct.

• For a number of reasons, preoccupation - other responsibilities - and lack of information often limits public participation and oversight.  Often, as well, the Executive and the daily government personnel intentionally limit that participation - only about one-half of all Citizen Advisory Committee spots are filled, perhaps 30,000 positions remain open - obviously intentionally.  We see broader research and distribution of information about executive personnel policy and conduct as an apt role for Presidential-Appointments.org.  We are moving to implement those goals over the coming days.

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• Transparency of appointments is the most difficult and serious issue during this period.  By its political nature, the appointment process is awkward, confused, and tough to track and report.  Obviously, the nature of the confirmed appointment process is easier because the nominations are made public in the senate as a part of the legal process -         

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TRANSPARENCY

     Transparency in government - across the board - is a critical part of any society, but in a large complex society such as the United States represents - knowing about the conduct of government and the people in it are ultimate facts for the protection of the society.

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     This page has a wide variety of readers - across the world, actually.  When there is a communication with us, the talk is either about how to get a job in government, or how to improve the quality of appointees.  Sometimes that concern about competence is simply a difference of opinion on policy or style,  but much of the time challenges basic experience or training of the office holder.  That raises the question of focus of what a page like this should emphasize as a central theme of its purpose.

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Home  Table of Contents

Citizen Advisory Committees

 Resumes of Presidential Nominations  Ceremonial Appointments by the President  Federal Links on Appointments Nominations  Withdrawals from the Senate Confirmation Process  Posted Federal Requests for Nominations  Tracking Nominations through the Senate  - Director@Presidential-Appointments.org

Appointments Process:  Ambassador Appointments   Troubled Patronage  Appointments   Citizen Advisory Committees   Clean Up Your Act  Approach to President Compensation  Qualifications  Appointment Information    Appointee Choices  Ceremonial Appointments Conflict of Interest  2008 Appointment Military Appointments    Nominations Requested   Recess Appointments   Federal Appointment Resources    "Holds" by Senators

2008-2009 Presidential Transition:    2008-2009 Presidential Transition    White House Staff

Cabinet Departments:  Agriculture  Commerce  Defense Education  Energy  Health & Human Services  Homeland Security    Housing-Urban Development  Justice  Labor State Transportation  Treasury   Veterans Affairs

Administrative Pages:  Resource Pages Organization  Data Base Creation Focus  Planning Ahead  Appointment Tracking

Federal Advisory Committees

Federal Administrative Agencies:  Centers for Disease Control  Consumer Product Safety Commission  Consumer Related Regulatory Agencies  Fish and Game Food and Drug Administration  Indian Affairs  Inspector's General    Nuclear Regulatory Commission  Small Business Administration

Archival Material:   News Notes  Interesting Current Events  Odd Appointment Tales 

Court System:   Federal Judiciary  Supreme Court  United States Attorneys

International Agency Appointments:  International Banks and Development Agencies

Policy:  Bolton Recess Appointment  Creeping Tyranny Developing Policy Stories  Disclaimer  Economic Forces and Structures  Executive Privilege  Lame Duck Administration  Mission  Observations  On Behalf of the People  Presidential Appointees in Trouble  Science and Politics  Power Strategies

Services:  Current Appointment  Links  Glossary and Definitions  Intense Searches  Subject Search  Searching for Appointments  Table of Contents

Owner Vita

     John Isaacson, page owner, graduated from Washington University Law School - He was involved in Missouri state politics as campaign manager for Governor and as state Republican Campaign Chairman in 1963-1964. Isaacson was an Air Force Intelligence Officer in Europe during the Berlin Crisis under John Kennedy - President Nixon appointed him to serve on the President's Commission for the Observance of the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations, serving on the Executive Committee and the China Subcommittee which recommended the admission of China to the United Nations. His political experience includes meetings with Presidents Harry Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, and Ford. He enjoyed a long personal friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt and Edna Gellhorn, the founder of The League of Women Voters. Isaacson has traveled extensively throughout Europe and the Near and Far East.  He now lives in western Montana near the Rocky Mountain Continental Divide in Butte Montana, the "Richest Hill on Earth."