Advise and Consent

If you want to see the poster child for why "Czar" appointments are a bad thing, you need go no farther than Czar Carol Browner. In 2000, then-EPA Administrator Browner was found liable by a jury (see: Coleman-Adebayo v Browner) of tolerating a hostile work environment at EPA and her Agency was found liable for race, sex, and color discrimination. Both the Administrator and the Agency were in violation of Title VII, of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And while that trial was underway, the House Science Committee conducted a year long investigation into charges by EPA employees of retaliation against whistleblowers, and discriminatory practices within EPA culture. The findings of the investigation led the then-Chair to describe Czar Browner's EPA as "a garbage can," to quote from his instructions to Browner during the hearings that called her on the carpet for the reprehensible way her EPA employees were handled. These findings led to the Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation (NoFEAR) Act of 2001, that was passed unanimously in both Houses of Congress. This was the 1st civil rights law of the 21st century, and mandated that all new hires in the Federal government receive training in Coleman-Adebayo v Browner within 90 days of being hired; that all Federal workers receive this training every 2 years; and that all Federal government websites post NoFEAR information on their home pages -- NOT the kind of thing most presidents would hang their hopes and hats on in appointing someone to a "Czar" position that under the best of circumstances is contentious. But if you consider that, had the President nominated Czar Browner for a cabinet position, she most likely would not have survived the mandatory Congressional vetting and hearings. Thus, the rationale for the non-cabinet appointment. It would appear that the President's vetting team dropped yet another ball on this one. Senators Byrd and Barrasso have raised the issue generally about the dangers of the executive branch acquiring too much power and circumventing Congressional oversight through the appointment of Czars. The media have given Czar Browner and the President a free ride on her appointment to such an influential position. Even though it seems likely Czar Browner is controlling the EPA message, as well as its policy, she does so without Congressional oversight. To have a President who is himself a civil rights attorney appoint Carol Browner "Czar," sends entirely the wrong message about accountability for misdeeds by governmental heads, and also sends a chill through the rank and file, who thought the days of governmental abuse by Agency brass were over with the ratification of NoFEAR. Czar Browner needs to relinquish her position in favor of any of hundreds of other candidates who are equally qualified (or more so) scientifically, but come without the baggage, the garbage, and the heavy handed record Czar Browner represents to those in the Federal government who remember her track record. This behooves media to remind us of the unfortunate and disgraceful history Czar Browner would sooner have us forget.