Mr. Beale - The Face of Bureaucracy ?

The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!

H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, 1926

Amidst all of the hysteria and political hyperbole of the recent fiscal nonsense, there occurred something that neatly encapsulates why America feels as it does about those in Washington D.C. who have been entrusted with the guidance of this nation.

There are indeed issues to be discussed relative to the recent actions of Congress & the President over the partial government shutdown. Sadly, all that truly happened is a delay of the entire fiasco – it will return after the first of the year, so there is time for the Madison Conservative to address those subjects.

However, sometimes absurdity is a perfect salve for the wounds of politics.

Consider this following headline:

A former federal official refused to testify before a House committee Tuesday. Invokes Fifth Amendment right

That healine does not do justice to the story. In a time when the political class was meandering on about ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’ government workers, there was one who was indeed ‘non-essential’. This one person in no way should be considered to encapsulate the normal government employee, but he does do a magnificent job of portraying the general belief of the American electorate about who is minding the store.

Here’s is a part of an opening speech given by the ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD). The first part of his commentary relates to how the Republicans forced the shut-down and generally are to blame for the woes of the planet, but then he got to the point. It is a classic, and would be delightfunny if it were not true.

To wit:

With that said, let me turn to today’s hearing.

I want to begin by thanking Inspector General

Elkins and his deputy, Patrick Sullivan,

In addition, I want to acknowledge the role of Administrator McCarthy in finally revealing this fraud, which lasted decades. I know we will discuss the Inspector General’s concerns about how quickly his office received a referral, but I believe the IG will agree that had it not been for Administrator McCarthy, this fraud may never have been uncovered.

Mr. Beale’s betrayal of the public trust for his own personal enrichment is truly shocking in its scope, duration, and sheer audacity.

Mr. Beale defrauded the Environmental Protection

Agency for decades—under both Republican and Democratic administrations—by claiming he was a covert operative for the CIA.

One senior EPA official during the Bush Administration actually approved Mr. Beale’s request to work offsite one day a week so he could participate in an “inter-agency, special advisory group working on a project with the Directorate of Operations at the CIA.”

This was no ordinary ruse.

In addition to lying to senior EPA officials across multiple

administrations, Mr. Beale also duped his own family members, his friends, and even his own lawyer.

Mr. Beale did not come clean to his own criminal defense attorney until investigators arranged for a meeting at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, in order to finally confront him about his lies.

But that’s not all Mr. Beale lied about.

According to the Inspector General, Mr. Beale also lied about contracting malaria and serving in Vietnam —all to obtain a handicapped parking spot. Mr. Beale also lied on travel vouchers about where he was going and why he needed to go there so he could visit his family in California.

Simply put, Mr. Beale was a con artist, and the American taxpayers were his mark.

As public servants, we must always remember that we serve the people.

Mr. Beale flouted one of the most basic tenets of government service — it’s not your money, it’s the taxpayers’ money.

Mr. Beale’s actions are an insult to the thousands of hardworking and dedicated public servants across the country and an insult to our CIA agents around the world.

While Mr. Beale was claiming to work at Langley and pretending to go on secret missions overseas, real intelligence agents were hunting down Osama bin Laden and battling al Qaeda in the most dangerous places in the world.

Mr. Beale’s impersonation of a CIA agent forced our nation’s law enforcement and intelligence officials to spend their scarce time and resources uncovering his fraud instead of combating real threats around the globe.

This is truly reprehensible.

I am gratified that justice has been served and that Mr. Beale will pay for his fraud.