The Interior Department confirmed Friday [typical day for administration to announce such info to the press] that Gary Frazer, its senior career official in the Endangered Species Office, which has produced several scientific findings angering his political superiors in the Fish and Wildlife Service, was reassigned last week to a newly created post as his division's liaison to the United States Geological Survey.
Tina Kreisher, the spokeswoman for the Interior Department, read a prepared statement saying that Mr. Frazer's new post was created as part of the commitment of the service's director, Steven A. Williams, "to strengthening the service's science capability." [The action was but one example of Bush administration officials "politicizing the Endangered Species Act."]
-- Endangered Species Official Reassigned
This is but a small reason why election of the other guy is important. Agree or disagree with individual acts of the Bush officials, overall they lean a certain way. This is why single issue voting is often misguided as compared to looking at the big picture. Furthermore, they are known to go out of their way to help their friends, which is a fine sentiment ... unless they don't have the best interests of the public at heart. Or excessive* favoritism and political maneuvering wins out over a healthy respect of the law overall. Again, this might not be the area of the law for which you are most concerned. The principle, however, is a general one, as is this administration's way of doing things.
Meanwhile, we have another example of a conversion to the Republican Party, though this time it was done under particularly troubling circumstances. On the other hand, playing fast and loose with the rules (including changing party affiliations thirty minutes before the filing deadline, after promising you would remain a Democrat, thus able to get funds from Democrats until the last minute) is an ongoing Republican political strategy these days.** Interestingly, two Democrats won recess House elections, and two "Blue Dog" Democrats changed parties.
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* Any executive branch will be influenced by political concerns and favoritism, so it is partly a question of what side you are more comfortable with, but things aren't that simplistic. Many have shown that even considering the imperfections of executive action, this administration is more political, secretive, and willing to favor their side than the norm. Naive, cynical, or misguided cries of "they are all the same" only blinds the public to this fact.
**Such techniques as mid-decade redistricting, politically motivated recall elections, extensions of time periods for votes, voting in the middle of the night, blocking the other party from discussions of important bills except token "Blue Dog" members of said party, de facto bribes/threats to get votes, and selective use of declassification for political reasons also come to mind. And, the other side are the ones called unpatriotic, socialists, or whatever. It almost brings to mind the closing words of Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union Address:
Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. LET US HAVE FAITH THAT RIGHT MAKES MIGHT, AND IN THAT FAITH, LET US, TO THE END, DARE TO DO OUR DUTY AS WE UNDERSTAND IT.
But maybe that's too much. Sounds good though, hmm?