In the late ’90s, I served as mayor of a town of 16,000 people. One day, as I sat in my office with an employee discussing her lackluster job performance, she looked at me and said “Mayor, I was here before you came. I’ll be here when you leave.” And, she was.
Her comment was in defense of not wanting to participate in automating work in her office. You know, the “we’ve always done it this way” mentality. But, it was a philosophy that was pervasive in local government among union employees who could not be fired except for “cause” (basically, provably, breaking the law).
People don’t like change. And, for government employees, every four years can bring a new chief executive with his/her own campaign promises, philosophies of governance and management, and policy implementation. If they wait long enough, that elected leader will be out of office.
Nothing compels employees to support and implement the policies of a new leader. I was undermined by employees who were loyal to former mayors. I was undermined by employees who were loyal to my political opponents. How? Submit required paperwork without signatures. Send legal documents to the wrong address so they don’t arrive where they need to be by their due date. Promise others funding that I specifically earmarked for a totally different project, leaving that project without funding. Cancel contracts without asking me first, contracts that could not be reinstated. Commit to tentative agreements, agreements I had clearly stated I would not approve. And, I could go on.
It is through that lens that I watch the impeachment hearings. It is through that lens that I am suspect of those testifying. It is through that lens that there isn’t one iota of doubt in my mind that there is a swamp, bureaucrats actively working to destroy the Trump presidency. It is through that lens that I believe the Democrats, and some Republicans, are working hard to keep the status quo that made some of them and their friends rich. It is through that lens that I support the President, believe there was no quid pro quo, and trust that Trump is doing the right thing by investigating the swamp dwellers.