Some whack-a-doo wrote in accusing us of lying about the whole Obama Czar thing...oh, and that is a government website linked below, so, it's not like we just started making stuff up here.
And now, back to the Czar parade;
Czarist Russia had just 18 czars in 300 years. In just seven months, President Obama has nearly doubled that number. At this rate, we’ll have 272 czars by 2012.
Some questions...
Who are these people and why are they necessary?
Why do we need an Energy Czar and a Secretary of Energy?
Why do we need a TARP Czar and a Secretary of Treasury?
Why was a 31 year old with no background in the auto industry and who drives a foreign car appointed as the Auto Recovery Czar?
What qualifies a college professor to set executive salaries?
We don’t know the answers to these questions because unlike cabinet secretaries, judges, and hundreds of other presidential appointments, these czars have bypassed Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution which mandates the advice and consent of the Senate when the President appoints principle officers.
Since these czars are the President’s point persons – many only reporting directly to him – on important issues, coming before the Senate for confirmation hearings would be important. Not only could they answer the above questions but the process could avoid the embarrassment caused by the Car Czar who had to resign because of a pension fund scandal.
Transparency isn’t the only issue. In these times of tight budgets, we need to know what these new offices are going to cost us. Most czars make $172,000. Each has an office, a staff, transportation and travel budgets. Who’s watching this?
Was anyone watching when the Stimulus Accountability Czar spent $18 million setting up a web page? He certainly never asked Congress for the money.
Each year every cabinet secretary must sit before several House and Senate Committees to ask for and justify his or her budget. But not these czars – not one has come before Congress.
Obama's Czars:
Rep. Kingston has a list of all the czars. Of the 34 appointed so far, only 7 have been confirmed by the Senate.
White House-Deemed Czars (7 Confirmed)
1. Border Czar — Alan Bersin
2. Energy czar — Carol Browner $172,200
3. Urban Czar — Adolfo Carrion, Jr. $158,500
4. InfoTech/Information Czar — Vivek Kundra
5. Faith-Based Czar — Joshua DuBois $98,000
6. Health Reform Czar — Nancy-Ann DeParle $158,000
7. Stimulus Accountability Czar — Earl Devaney
8. Regulatory Czar — Cass Sunstein $172,200
9. Drug czar — Gil Kerlikowske (C)
10. Guantanamo Closure Czar — Daniel Fried
11. Salary/Pay/Compensation Czar — Kenneth Feinberg
12. Non-Proliferation/WMD Czar — Gary Samore
13. Terrorism Czar — John Brennan $172,200
14. New TARP Czar — Herb Allison (C)
15. Cyber Security Czar — OPEN
16. Technology Czar – Aneesh Chopra (C)
17. Car Czar — Ed Montgomery (Steve Rattner ?)
18. Economic Czar — Paul Volcker
19. Great Lakes Czar – Cameron Davis
20. Intelligence Czar – Dennis Blair (C)
21. Weather/Science Czar — John Holdren (C)
22. Green Jobs Czar — Van Jones
23. AIDS Czar —Jeffery Crowley $102,000
24. California Water Czar – David Hayes (C)
25. Domestic Violence Czar – Lynn Rosenthal
26. TARP Oversight Czar – Elizabeth Warren
27. Weapons Czar – Ashton Carter (C) dod
28. Copyright Czar – OPEN
(C) – Senate Confirmed Czars
Special Envoy Czars:
29. Mideast Peace Czar -George Mitchell
30. Af-Pak- Richard Holbrooke $259,700/ office
31. Sudan Czar – J. Scott Gration
32. Southwest Asia Czar - Dennis Ross
33. Climate special-Todd Stern
34. Eurasian Energy- Richard Morningstar $420,750/ office
**27 Un-Confirmed Czars** **34 Total Czars**
From Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, we find out everything we need to know about Obama’s czars that a citizen can’t find at http://whitehouse.gov. (Virtuous Republic)
