FOCUS of the Presidential-Appointments.org SITE

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.

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 -