I have written before about the Baltimore Sun's lack of attention to the largest employer in the Baltimore area, the Social Security Administration. I have found it amazing that the newspaper ran no articles whatsoever about the nomination, confirmation or installation of Michael Astrue as Social Security Commissioner.
The Baltimore Sun has finally noticed Social Security. In the context of an article discussing "burrowing," political appointees seeking civil service positions before an expected change in government, the Sun finally mentions Social Security. The article does not mention any burrowing going on at Social Security, although that may be happening. Indeed, the mention of Social Security appears to be tacked onto an unrelated article. Still, the article does mention Michael Astrue, Jo Anne Barnhart and Martin Gerry. Here is an excerpt, which to my reading makes it clear that Martin Gerry was fired:
The Baltimore Sun has finally noticed Social Security. In the context of an article discussing "burrowing," political appointees seeking civil service positions before an expected change in government, the Sun finally mentions Social Security. The article does not mention any burrowing going on at Social Security, although that may be happening. Indeed, the mention of Social Security appears to be tacked onto an unrelated article. Still, the article does mention Michael Astrue, Jo Anne Barnhart and Martin Gerry. Here is an excerpt, which to my reading makes it clear that Martin Gerry was fired:
A longtime political appointee who oversaw the first wave of reforms to the nation's disability system is no longer employed by the Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration, agency spokesman Mark Lassiter said this week.
Lassiter declined to say whether Martin Gerry, who also served under Presidents Nixon, Ford and George H.W. Bush, resigned or was fired from his post. A spokesman for the agency's inspector general also declined to comment. A call to what is believed to be Gerry's Ellicott City home was not returned.
Gerry's departure, however, comes as new Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue contemplates the agency's current strategy for streamlining the disability process - reforms that were a legacy of former Commissioner Jo Anne B. Barnhart. ...
Although Astrue has told Congress that he stands firmly behind Barnhart's goal of reducing the red tape and heaps of appeals from denied applicants, he has not committed to Barnhart's solution, which began in the New England region last year.
22 comments:
Charles, you can rest assured he was fired. While he was over in DC for most of the day one Friday, the locks on his office were changed, and after his brief (You're fired) meeting with the new Commissioner, he was escorted from the building. It was a total surprise to him.
Yeah, I'm told that his staff was, up till the moment he was escorted out the building, working on his travel schedule and no one working for him had a clue this was coming.
Understand that it is the law that SES folks (and I assume MG was SES, and not a political) cannot be moved or messed with for 120 days when a new leader comes on board unless they agree to it. But they can be fired if one wants to allege conduct that supports firing. So the fact his staff had no clue leads one to believe his leaving was involuntary.
Myrtle Habersham, Chief Strategic Officer, (a Deputy equivalent) now works for Jim Lockhart at OEHEO, and her replacement is an SES candidate (not an SES, an SES candidate). Sounds like an offer that could not be refused, and an office soon to undergo changes
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