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Jul 26, 2023

O'Malley Nominated To Be Commissioner Of Social Security


     From the Washington Post:

President Biden announced Wednesday that he will nominate former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley to lead the Social Security Administration, as the agency faces enhanced scrutiny over new management failures.

O’Malley, who ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016, would oversee an embattled agency...

22 comments:

  1. I'm hoping that this is the beginning of the agency putting serious adults back in charge.

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  2. I wish him luck. He will need a lot of it. My best advice dismiss the senior management in ssa on day 1

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  3. Wow!! What a pleasant surprise. A proven administrator, policy guy, and musician. Excellent inspired choice. Hope he’s confirmed quickly as he clearly will impress SFC members.

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  4. I'm not holding by breath until we start to see positive changes, but HOPEFULLY this is a good sign. BYE KILOLO.

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  5. I’m not a fan of O’Malley, but he has experience in an executive capacity and has accomplished more than creating a pronoun policy and DEI initiatives. Good riddance!!

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  6. I'm not a fan of Biden, but this is a good choice. O'Malley has experience as Governor and Mayor. Quite a lot more governmental and administrative experience than former commissioner Saul had when he took the job.

    I'm a bit surprised O'Malley is willing to do this. He was running for President just a few years ago, and is a former governor of Maryland. But maybe he wants to straighten the problems out.

    I wonder if SSA will put decisions on continuing present levels of telework on hold, until he is confirmed. I would think the new commissioner would need to approve any changes.

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  7. He will bring as many workers as he can to Baltimore. Those Headquarter buildings will be filled with staff soon!

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  8. Anyone that would even consider the position is crazy. It is a now win situation. Not in control of the policy budget but responsible for expectations far beyond what is possible.

    If confirmed, the blog here will turn on him within 90 days and call him the most useless leader in the history of leaders.

    Hope he has his lobbyist job lined up already.

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  9. From the Post article link:

    "Kijakazi has come under fire from lawmakers and advocates for the disabled for allowing close to half of the workforce to continue to work from home."

    This appears to be a complete fabrication. I read every article I can find about SSA telework, and I've never read once of "advocates for the disabled" wanting SSA workers to be forced to the office.

    Especially considering the available evidence indicates teleworking employees are working efficiently from home.

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  10. @ 2:22

    Telework is always the low hanging fruit in the equation, so it gets jumped on first.

    My experience is anecdotal obviously, but I can tell anti-telework "advocates" that I am certainly more productive on my telework days. On those days, I am usually doing co-workers work as well as mine since I can keep up on my regular duties. Not so much when I'm in the office, mainly because I'm constantly distracted with other bullshit like "going to help work a window" or some other mundane non-work related crap my coworker wants to talk to me about in person. If I am dragged back into the office 5 days a week, I can tell you with certainty my production/morale will drop, I will do the bare minimum, and I will spend all my available free time browsing USAjobs for a new job instead of helping my coworkers get their work done. I refuse to be treated like trash by an employer, the public, and lawmakers. Working for SSA now has enough bullshit tied to it, if telework goes, I will be running towards the exit.

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  11. Rewatch The Wire on HBO. You think there is nepotism and insider dealings now, just wait.

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    Replies
    1. That was a fictional television show.

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    2. Was it? https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theringer.com/platform/amp/tv/2018/2/6/16952246/the-wire-politics-season-three-clay-davis-carcetti-royce

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  12. Does anyone know when his confirmation hearings start?

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  13. Good choice. Doubt he'll make it through this Congress.

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  14. The fictional tv show was based on real life baltimore. He is pretty much Tommy. Also, as mayor he didn't do much except for show up to pretend to pick up trash if there was a camera around. His heavy handed policies for policing was what let cops run amuck and lead to what happened to Freddy Grey. People would like to assume it was just police acting like the corrupt police they are but it was under his orders that they started stopping and frisking anyone that looked suspicious. Then arrest and release knowing they were arresting people who weren't going to be prosecuted. All so that he could talk about how crime was so low under his tenure

    He is also the one that deregulated the maryland electricity market. Telling people that it would mean more choice and competition which would lead to lower prices. All the while playing golf with the head of bge/constellation and accepting large donations. Where were these imaginary competitors going to show up? Prices have gone up and continue to go up

    He took lots of money from developers who he gave favorable construction contracts to building and tearing up the same piece of road for years. He also took donations from other businesses he gave favorable treatment to. All politicians do it but his was particularly egregious and flagrant

    He promised no new taxes when he became governor so he made everything a fee. There were many many fees

    He also said as mayor that he was against casinos but that quickly changed when he became governor. Now we have more than enough to make everyone a gambling addict withing driving distance from anywhere in MD. As typical they claimed all that money would go to the schools but it never did

    Leaving the governors office he claimed that new furniture bought for the governors mansion was damaged so he could buy it for a small fraction of what he paid for. He got caught and ended up paying more for the furniture

    Toward the end of his tenure he didn't do much except slap a bunch of fees on people and check out to run for president. And that was a pathetic showing. No one even knew who he was much less care about anything he had to say

    He thinks he's the next JFK but he's not even close. He's corrupt and out to enrich himself

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  15. Former mayor of Baltimore .... we're F'd.

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  16. 9:40 O'Malley will be confirmed. He just needs Senate confirmation and the Senate is controlled by the Democrats.

    As for SSA telework, this will likely cause telework to be frozen at present levels until O'Malley is confirmed. Nobody is going to eat to take it upon themselves to institute major chances right before a new permanent SSA commissioner takes office. He should have his say on the matter.

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  17. 625 am the ACOSS delegates the decisions to the deputy commissioners. Telework will be resolved before he arrives. Governor O'Malleys confirmation may take many months to clear.

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  18. The only change I see this making is SSA will probably stop misspelling their client's name in pleadings' captions ("Kilo Kijakazi")

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  19. Am waiting to see if/when SSA announces the nomination

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