Crises in the U.S. Civil Service
本文分析了1985年美国总统里根的人事管理办公室主任德瓦恩因任期届满而未能连任的事件，揭示了联邦人事管理组织中的根本缺陷，并呼吁进行改革。
I can count the votes.... Withdraw my request for reconfirmation. ' With these words spoken at a hearing of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Donald J. Devine foreclosed a continuance of his four tumultuous years as President Reagan's director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). A seldom enacted provision of law for holding presidential appointees accountable was the vehicle that produced this surprising result. How and why it occurred makes a compelling and urgent case for correcting a fundamental flaw in the organization for federal personnel management. As part of the legislation to overhaul the civil service system in 1978, the Carter administration proposed that the head of the federal government's central personnel agency be one individual instead of a bipartisan commission. A director would be appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate and would serve at the pleasure of the president. The Houseapproved bill included this provision, but the version passed by the Senate and ultimately enacted into law expressly limited the director's appointment to four years. The change was made to provide the Senate with a specific opportunity to review the performance of any director whom a president wanted to keep in that position for more than four years. Such a requirement for heads of agencies has been adopted rarely. In only seven positions must the incumbents leave office when their terms expire if they have not been reappointed with the advice and consent of the Senate. Three are heads of entire organizations: the comptroller general, director of the National Science Foundation, and the director of the Office of Personnel Management. The other four are heads of agencies located within executive departments. Dr. Devine's term expired on March 25, 1985. The president nominated him for a second four-year term on March 8, 1985. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee scheduled hearings for Monday and Tuesday, April 1 and 2, and planned a committee vote on April 3. This scenario assumed a favorable committee recommendation and the possibility that the Senate would act on the nomination before recessing for Easter at the end of that week. The fact that the president's nominee had to relinquish the position of director on March 25 was seen by some as good reason for accelerating the confirmation process. While Dr. Devine's confrontational style and some of his policy initiatives were expected to draw intense criticism, very few seasoned observers of Capitol Hill expected that President Reagan's nominee would fail to win approval from the Republican controlled Senate.