The Return of Debate?

"Leaders of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union of federal workers, and the Senior Executives Association, the group representing federal executives, said they want the government to release lists of political appointees who have been hired for career jobs and show whether agencies sought competition for the positions."

Also see my November 18 column, The Burrowing of the Bushies.

And Post reporters are taking a good look at the challenges Obama will face in the federal agencies after eight years of Bush.

Rob Stein wrote on Wednesday: "The Obama administration will inherit a Food and Drug Administration widely seen as struggling to protect Americans from unsafe medication, contaminated food and a flood of questionable imports from China and other countries.

"Shaken by a series of alarming failures, the FDA desperately needs an infusion of strong leadership, money, technology and personnel -- and perhaps a major restructuring, say former officials, members of Congress, watchdog groups and various government reports."

Juliet Eilperin wrote on Friday: "Few federal agencies are expected to undergo as radical a transformation under President-elect Barack Obama as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, which have been at the epicenter of many of the Bush administration's most intense scientific and environmental controversies."

And Michael A. Fletcher writes today: "The next labor secretary will be taking charge of an agency widely criticized for walking away from its regulatory function across a range of issues, including wage and hour law and workplace safety."

Fletcher quotes Scott Lilly, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, who has written several reports critical of the agency's operation under the Bush administration: "I think you've got people embedded there who are philosophically hostile to the mission of the agency."

Pardon Watch

The New York Times editorial board writes: "We hope President Bush will not abuse the pardon power by putting his appointees, political supporters or friends above the law. . . .

"[H]is record of stonewalling inquiries into his administration's legally questionable behavior -- the torture policy that led to the Abu Ghraib nightmare; illegal wiretapping; the politically motivated firing of federal attorneys -- justify concern that he may be considering pardoning officials involved in those misdeeds.

"The framers envisioned that presidents would be discouraged from misusing the pardon power by the threat of impeachment. But it is a fairly empty threat when they issue pardons in their final days in office.

"The main check on misuse of 11th-hour pardons is the verdict of history. Mr. Bush will be leaving office with extraordinarily low approval ratings. If he wants to try to reclaim his reputation, he can start by not abusing the pardon power on his way out the door."