Candidates want to be President so they Can Have Your Job?

The 2008 presidential candidates are beginning to call for "government reform" and "cleaning up Washington." That means federal employees and government contractors will likely get caught in the crossfire.

Candidate’s favorite targets are to “downsize government”, “end waste and fraud”, “get tough on procurement” and the general tightening of programs to help tax dollars go farther.

Many of the 2008 candidate’s promises lack specifics at this early point of the campaign, so there is no way of yet knowing which agencies would bear the brunt of cutbacks. The winner will, however, no doubt try to shake up the government.

Al Gore, when vice president was in charge of “reinventing government” during the Clinton administration which offered cash buyouts to encourage feral employees to leave the payroll. President Bush stated early and often he wanted to cut 50% of all federal jobs. His “presidential management agenda” has also directed federal agencies to run “competitive sourcing” competitions to contract out federal employee jobs.

Given the large number of federal employees who are retiring soon, it is easier to suggest now is a good time to downsize.

Republican Rudy Giuliani would cut about 20 percent of the federal workforce thru attrition. "How about we try something new? How about we not replace half of those positions?" Giuliani, the former New York mayor, said recently in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He projects that 42 percent of federal employees will retire over the next 10 years. Not filling half of those jobs would save about $20 billion a year, Giuliani says.

Former Massachusetts governor, Republican Mitt Romney said at a debate earlier this month, “Washington is broken”. “The government's retirement wave means we can reduce the employment there, but more importantly, go through all the agencies, all the departments, all the programs and cut out the unnecessary and the wasteful," he said.

Arizona Senator, Republican John McCain said, federal retirements represent "an opportunity to reorganize the entire federal workforce." That means streamlining to make government smaller, less expensive and adjusting salary scales "to attract the finest public servants," he said.

Earlier this month in Oklahoma, McCain said, "The civil service has strayed from its reformist roots and has mutated into a no-accountability zone, where employment is treated as an entitlement, good performance as an option and accountability as someone else's problem." McCain said it’s time to "demand high standards of behavior" and "not let good workers be crippled by the fine print of the latest union contract."

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton would cut 500,000 government contracting jobs.
Clinton would target federal contract jobs for cuts that she claims would save $10 billion to $18 billion a year. "Some contract employees cost twice as much as comparable federal workers. They're often less accountable and less competent," she said in a speech last month.

Clinton proposes a U.S. Public Service Academy, an undergraduate college modeled after the military service academies to attract a new generation to the government. The academy could help the government find replacements for retirees, she said.

"Many young people are ready, willing and able to answer the call to serve," Clinton said. "But they often graduate from college with so much debt that they can't imagine going into a public-service career." The academy which would provide a free education in exchange for five years of federal service "will open the doors much more widely for young people who want to serve their country," she said.

Former senator John Edwards, a Democratic candidate, pledges to rebuild the military and root out waste and cronyism in the Pentagon, according to his Web site.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) says he hopes to empower citizens to crack down on government waste by putting information about federal grants, contracts, loans and earmarks online.