Martin Staff Chief ‘Burrowing’ by Getting Civil-Service Job
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s top adviser prepared early for the change in presidential administrations by getting a job that could protect him from being let go after Jan. 20, said commission and industry officials. Dan Gonzalez, Martin’s chief of staff, in the summer got a designation that was civil servant, rather than a political employee, slot, they said. Such job switches have taken place before previous commission chairmen stepped down, in a practice known throughout the government as burrowing.
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In the new job, Gonzalez is a GS-15, step 10 employee, FCC officials said. He’s employed in the Wireline Bureau but considered on assignment to the chairman’s office, they said. An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment right away. Gonzalez didn’t immediately reply to a message seeking comment. He is listed as having a “noncareer appointment” in the Nov. 12 “Plum Book,” which lists existing administration positions.
Meredith McGehee, the Campaign Legal Center’s policy director, said burrowing happens as many presidential administrations wind up: “It’s an abuse, whether done by Democrats or Republicans, of the civil service, which is not supposed to be a place to install political employees.” The maneuvers “undermine public confidence that those decisions on civil servant positions are being made on the up-and-up and not necessarily because someone has an inside track,” McGehee said.
Meanwhile, aides to Commissioner Deborah Tate are having difficulty finding bureau jobs so they can remain at the commission after their boss leaves, commission officials and communications lawyers said. They said some of Tate’s legal advisers have started trying to move to bureaus, but they haven’t received job offers. If they don’t get bureau assignments, the lawyers probably won’t be able to stay at the FCC after Tate leaves as commissioner, as may happen Jan. 3 when the new Congress is sworn in, the officials said.