The Foreign Service Journal, April 2013

30 April 2013 | the foreign Service journal Reach Out to Capitol Hill By Dan Geisler A mong the many actions that AFSA undertakes in its role as a federal labor union, one that I find to be of particular importance, and recommend it continue to emphasize, is its advocacy work on personnel and professional issues on Capitol Hill. During my term as AFSA president (1997-1999), State Depart- ment staff did not track legislation affecting federal workers. That was considered to be the job of the Office of Personnel Manage- ment. Only AFSAmonitored and influenced legislation on such matters as the retirement system and health benefits. Was that important? Absolutely! The Foreign Service is gov- erned by different statutes than the Civil Service, and if new legisla- tion does not incorporate changes into our governing statutes, we lose benefits. AFSAmet regularly with professional staff fromboth sides of the aisles of both chambers, often at their request, to voice our con- cerns about the department’s management, personnel planning and budgeting. We were invited to testify before House and Senate committees considering federal worker legislation, and furnished information Foggy Bottom couldn’t, or wouldn’t, provide. At one point, the chief of staff of Senator Jesse Helms, R-N.C., who was no friend of the Foreign Service, solicited AFSA’s input on a bill the senator planned to introduce to “strengthen” the Foreign Service promotion system—by instituting a process of mandatory selection out of a certain percentage of officers and specialists every year. Sharon Papp, our general counsel, pointed out numer- ous, serious flaws in the draft, including provisions that conflicted with existing federal civil rights laws. imprudently had the residence measured for curtains before her candidacy was voted on. Money Talks Why is it so hard to abandon a practice that no one really likes? In an excellent Speaking Out column in the November 2012 Foreign Service Journal (“Psst! Hey, Buddy, Wanna Buy an Ambassadorship?”), retired Ambassador Dennis Jett points to the geometric growth of presidential campaign costs, which has driven out all thought of anyone other than donors for the “plum” chief of mission posts (and some others). As former President Jimmy Carter lamented recently, it wasn’t the 2010 Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court that first opened the floodgates to astronomical sums of campaign money, but rather the candidates’ own decisions (including Obama’s) not to use the public financing available to them, because it came with a ceiling on campaign spending. Now, if The New York Times and other sources are to be believed, the White House is sorting through the list of 2012 donor bundlers to carry out the unenvi- able task of fitting more round pegs into square holes overseas. Maybe we should be happy that new chiefs of mission with deep pockets are going to the posts with the heaviest representa- tional expenses in their host countries. Or maybe we can console ourselves with the thought that who heads our embassies may be less important in a world of instant communications. Then again, nothing casts doubt on the importance of an embassy like sending a chief of mission whose chief qualification is his or her checkbook. Such appointments tend to suggest that the host country does not really matter in the eyes of the U.S. admin- istration. After all, dangerous key posts in crisis zones are still reserved for career officers. The history of donor appointments over the past 50 years is replete with embarrassments; Amb. Jett’s article points out two among President Obama’s first-term appointees. As long as the practice continues, there are sure to be more. Regrettably, until the embarrassments prove so as to reach a tipping point, AFSA’s leadershipmay be destined to go on crying in the wilderness of American politics. Even so, AFSA should continue to fight the good fight for the appointment of truly quali- fied individuals to key positions, both overseas and inWashington itself. After all, Congress itself set that standard in the Foreign Service Act of 1980. Ted Wilkinson was AFSA president from 1989 to 1991, and chaired the FSJ Editorial Board from 2005 to 2011. “The 40-year mark is a golden opportunity to expand AFSA’s profile on the Hill by working to organize formal House and Senate caucuses of legislators who are interested in supporting American diplomats.” —Dan Geisler (AFSA President, 1997-1999)