The secret federal careers of four famous people
January 9th, 2012 | Postal Service Treasury Uncategorized | Posted by Andy Medici
Federal employees have taken a lot of heat over the last few years. They are called overpaid and underworked. The fight over their pay and benefits has been well documented. But some famous people have had not so famous careers within the federal government. Here are a few.
4. Abraham Lincoln
Yes, yes, I know he was a member of Congress and one of our most famous presidents. But did you also know he was the Postmaster in New Salem, Ill, for almost three years? He became postmaster on May 7, 1833 and lost the position when the post office was relocated May 30, 1836. How did Lincoln get the gig? Well the Park Service says that its uncertain, but might have had something to do with the conduct of the former postmaster.
The women of New Salem were irritated when Samuel Hill, the former postmaster, spent more time serving the men whisky instead of taking care of postal duties. As postmaster, Lincoln was always willing to please customers and would go out of his way to do so.
Abraham Lincoln: Come for the salvation of the country and pick up your mail on the way out.
3. Walt Whitman
All right. Walt Whitman was a famous poet, and many of us read at least some of his work in high school. In fact, there are at least a few schools named after him. But once again, it seems like Whitman had to make ends meet by working for the federal government.
According to the National Archives:
Whitman lived in Washington, DC, for a decade from 1863-1873… To support himself and to help fund his work aiding soldiers, Whitman secured low-level government work–functioning mainly as a clerk, spending much of his time as a scribe or copyist. He worked in the Army Paymaster’s office, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Attorney General’s office.
2. Walt Disney
Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck and others. Walt Disney created a gigantic media empire that spans the gambit of amusement parks, new stations and even ESPN. He won dozens of Oscars (animated shorts category) and his empire was so powerful, it literally spun off other famous people. Just the Mickey Mouse Club alone helped give rise to Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
But before all that, Walt Disney was a substitute mail carrier in Chicago, Ill.
I would use a picture here, but for copyright purposes I will let you imagine a Disney picture of some sort.
1. Dr. Seuss
Ok. So we are down to No. 1, and who can possibly top everyone else on the list? Well, Theodor Seuss Geisel at least comes close. He brought us the Cat in the Hat and The Lorax, and dozens more. His work is so well known that you can call someone a Grinch and they will know exactly what you mean. His works have been translated into more than 15 languages and has sold more than 200 million copies.
They are still making movies based off of his work.
But Dr. Seuss was employed by the Treasury Department in 1942 to make illustrations for the war effort. He joined the Army in 1943.
Note: I did not add Julia Child to the list because her federal career as a spy is very well known. Or at least not a big secret anymore.
But if anyone else knows of more secret federal careers of more famous people, just add them into the comments.
Treasury headquarters attains LEED Gold certification.
December 21st, 2011 | Treasury | Posted by Andy Medici
The Treasury Department announced today that their headquarters has attained LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. Gold is the second-highest rating.
The building was made more energy and water efficient, resulting in a 7 percent decrease in electricity use and a 53 percent decrease in steam use over 2008 levels.
“The fact that the home of much our nation’s financial history has achieved this distinction for environmental leadership adds new meaning to the term ‘green’ building,” said Assistant Secretary for Management Dan Tangherlini. “We’re proud of the improvements we’ve made around the Treasury Building – both big and small – to help reduce our environmental footprint and save taxpayer dollars.”
The Treasury Department also squeezed in 164 additional workstations for federal employees.
The Treasury Building, which is located at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, is more than two city blocks long and serves as the headquarters of the Department. It was constructed over a period of 33 years between 1836 and 1869. The east and center wings – which comprise the oldest portion of the structure – were designed by Robert Mills, architect of the Washington Monument, and were built between 1836 to 1842.
The Treasury Building is the third-oldest federal building in Washington D.C., after the White House and the U.S. Capitol, and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1972.
Agencies subpoenaed to testify on small business leadership
October 20th, 2011 | Agriculture Justice Procurement State Treasury | Posted by Sarah Chacko
House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves today issued subpoenas to four federal agencies seeking answers for why they refuse to put senior leadership in charge of small business contracting activities, a committee spokesman said.
The Treasury, State, Justice and Agriculture departments have said they believe they are in compliance with the spirit of a law that requires agencies to put their Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization in direct contact with the agency’s secretary or deputy secretary.
Each agency is required to have an Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) under the Small Business Act to ensure contracts are written with small business participation in mind.
The Government Accountability Office reported in June that the seven departments did not comply with the requirements. Some agencies name top level officials as OSDBU directors but have less senior administrators do day-to-day activities. Others have the OSDBU director report to officials other than the secretary or deputy secretary.
Rep. Mick Mulvaney, chairman of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce, sent letters to the noncompliant agencies in August asking them to reorganize their OSDBU offices so that the offices reported to senior leadership. The Interior Department and Social Security Administration responded by reorganizing their small business offices.
But the Treasury, State, Justice and Agriculture departments told Mulvaney they believe they are in compliance with the spirit of the law and will not change.
The subpoenas issued today require the deputy secretaries of those four unchanged agencies to explain their reasons at a full House Small Business Committee hearing on Nov. 1.
Tags: House Small Business Commmittee, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Small Business Act, small business contracting
Indian activist challenged the government–and is lauded for it
October 17th, 2011 | Interior Treasury | Posted by Sean Reilly
It’s not every day that national leaders pay tribute to someone who spearheaded a cause that will cost the government several billion dollars.
That distinction goes, however, to the late Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Interior and Treasury departments that prompted a $3.4 billion settlement to make up for their mismanagement of an Indian trust fund. Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet tribe from Montana, died late Sunday from cancer.
Elouise Cobell was the lead plaintiff on a lawsuit against the government that led to a $3.4 billion settlement.
In a statement today, President Obama said he and First Lady Michelle Obama were “saddened” to learn of Cobell’s passing.
“Elouise spoke out when she saw that the Interior Department had failed to account for billions of dollars that they were supposed to collect on behalf of more than 300,000 of her fellow Native Americans,” said Obama, who last year signed the law that put the settlement in place.
Also praising Cobell was current Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who called her “a hero in every sense of the word.”
“She sought justice to address historical wrongs that had weighed on our nation’s conscience and was a significant force for change.”
Recognition was a long time coming.
In 1996, Cobell and four other Indians filed suit to force the government to account for billions of dollars received for oil and gas leases and other uses of Indian lands held in trust by the United States, according to an obituary released by her family. The suit eventually became a class-action case; the ensuing legal odyssey revealed government record-keeping so slipshod that a judge determined that Indians could never get a full reckoning.
The $3.4 billion negotiated settlement includes $1.5 billion to compensate land owners, along with $1.9 billion for a voluntary buyback program to consolidate land interests, according to the Interior Department. Because legal challenges to the settlement are continuing, however, no money has actually been disbursed at this point, said Bill McAllister, a spokesman for Cobell’s family.
Tags: Elouise Cobell, Ken Salazar
Treasury moving to e-invoicing
July 13th, 2011 | Treasury | Posted by Sean Reilly
Some noteworthy news today on the long and winding road to a paperless government: As of the end of fiscal 2012, all Treasury Department bureaus will have to use electronic invoicing.
The move is expected to cut the department’s processing costs by about half to $7 million annually and will also mean faster payments for government vendors, Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin said in a news release. At the department, the Bureau of the Public Debt and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing already use electronic invoicing; the IRS, the Office of Thrift Supervision and a number of other offices will now have to get on board.
A handful of other federal agencies already use the online approach or are pursuing it. If adopted government-wide, it could eventually save up to $450 million annually through lower manpower costs, according to an official estimate.
The approach is one of a dozen proposals from the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation intended to streamline financial management government-wide. “It’s available today; it’s ready to implement,” the office’s director, Adam Goldberg, said today at an Association of Government Accountants’ meeting inAtlanta.
Libya sanctions: Three days to freeze $32 billion
March 23rd, 2011 | Treasury | Posted by Stephen Losey
"They took WHAT?" (Photo by Mahmud Turkia/Getty Images)
The Washington Post just posted a great story looking inside the Treasury Department’s mad dash to freeze $32 billion in assets held by Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi. Treasury employees worked nearly nonstop to quickly target Libyan assets in 72 hours — a process that would have taken weeks or months in previous years.
Several things were on Treasury’s side: Valuable lessons learned from previous economic sanctions, the discovery that the $100 million in assets they believed Gaddafi held was actually 300 times greater, and the rise of electronic banking networks that made it easier to track and crack down on the funds.
But Treasury also had dedicated public servants who seized their chance to make history, as this quote from Office of Foreign Asset Control Director Adam Szubin shows:
Szubin said the effort was “incredibly intense, but in the best way.”
“This is what we’re here to do, is for moments like this when there is a crisis. I don’t know what more you could ask as a career civil servant than the White House turning to you and saying, ‘We need you. We need you to move incredibly fast. How quickly can you deliver?’ ”
These are the kind of stories that can make it easier for agencies to recruit new employees. After all, you can’t do that in the private sector.
Tags: Libya, noteable feds, recruitment
ABC: Obama to sorta kinda appoint Warren
September 15th, 2010 | Treasury | Posted by Stephen Losey
Elizabeth Warren
For weeks government regulatory geeks have been waiting with baited breath to see whether President Obama would formally nominate Elizabeth Warren to be the first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sidestep the highly contentious nomination process and give her a limited recess appointment, or duck the conflict altogether and choose someone else. According to ABC’s Jake Tapper, the answer is … none of the above.
Tapper says Warren will be the — deep breath — Assistant to the President and Special Adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Basically, she’ll be a White House adviser, reporting to both Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, charged with setting up the new bureau. It remains to be seen exactly what this means. Salon’s Andrew Leonard sounds baffled over whether this pseudo-appointment would give Warren some actual power, or just make her one more adviser with no real authority.
Cue conservative carping on yet another czar and liberal griping about Obama’s ducking of political fights over their pet issues in 3 … 2 … 1 …
Tags: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren
Reading the tea leaves on Elizabeth Warren
September 2nd, 2010 | Treasury | Posted by Stephen Losey
Elizabeth Warren
The Washington Post’s Political Economy blog today reported that Elizabeth Warren — the left’s hands-down favorite to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — has unexpectedly dropped a fall class she was scheduled to teach at Harvard.
This last-minute change for Warren’s contracting law class is fueling speculation that she could be nominated soon, and is gearing up for what could be a grueling confirmation battle. (Long story short, liberals love her and think she’d stand up to banks running amok; conservatives view her as a zealot who doesn’t know what she’s talking about.)
The Post said that even when Warren was heading a congressional panel overseeing the TARP bailout, she found time to keep teaching. And Andrew Leonard at Salon’s How the World Works blog notes that Warren has been seen recently at the White House and dining with Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. “So something is up,” Leonard wrote.
Tags: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren
Video: Michelle Obama at Treasury
July 8th, 2010 | Treasury | Posted by M. Scott Mahaskey
As her 20th agency visit, First Lady Michelle Obama was at the Department of Treasury, July 7, 2010, to thank its employees for their work. In particular, she praised the organization’s effort on financial reform, which she hopes will prevent another meltdown. Michelle Obama also mentioned the Treasury’s cooperation with her “Let’s Move” campaign, aimed at promoting a healthier lifestyle, by introducing tax credits to grocery stores opening in under-served communities. (Jee Abbey Lee/ Medill News Service for Fedline)
Budgetball: Flex your mind and your muscles
June 7th, 2010 | OMB Treasury White House | Posted by Tom Spoth
So let’s say you’re sitting around on a Saturday afternoon, thinking, “Well shucks, I’d sure like to finally get around to solving America’s national debt problem today, but I’m really starting to get a little soft in the middle … maybe I should go outside and get some exercise instead.”
We’ve all been there, right? Well, worry no more: Budgetball is here!
Budgetball is, no lie, “an active sport of quick passes, tough defense, and bold comebacks designed to increase awareness of the national debt and reward strategic thinking and collaborative problem-solving around the issues of fiscal responsibility.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Barack Obama, Budgetball, national debt, oven mitts, Tim Geithner