One Down, Thirty-One to Go

Van Jones, Obama’s green jobs czar has resigned due to the “vicious smear campaign” waged against him.  In truth, Mr. Jones political problems had less to do with a smear campaign and more to do with Americans learning what he stood for.

Van’s involvement with STORM (Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement) in the 90’s and association with communist and anarchist radicals was enough to raise flags.  As journalists and bloggers started looking into what Mr. Jones stood for, even more causes for alarm were discovered.

In 2005, Jones made racially-charge anti-white remarks in a speech where he addressed shooting incidents by white and black kids.  Van made the distinction that black kids were better because while, “a black kid might shoot another black kid.  He’s not going to shoot up the whole school… you’ve never seen a Columbine done by a black child… it’s always them” them being a reference to white kids.  Not only is this hateful, it’s not even correct.  In 1988, a black student by the name of Nicholas Elliot took a semi-automatic handgun and 200 rounds of ammunition to school.  He proceeded to kill one teacher, wound another and the death toll was only kept low because the gun malfunctioned.

If blaming white kids for all school gun violence wasn’t enough, Van also had signed a statement in 2004 that attested that “people within the current administration may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen”.  Jones had attempted to disavow that he was involved with the 9/11 “truther” movement, but the group’s spokesman said that all signatories were confirmed by the organization’s board and that they all knew what they were signing.

Perhaps we need to look more-closely at the remaining 31 czars.  We’re paying their salaries but, for many, there is no congressional oversight, the vetting process is apparently inadequate, they may have access to classified information, and are contributing to matters of national security.  There is a reason for our system of checks and balances and the Administration’s willful disregard for our Constitution may be endangering our way of life.  So who are the czars?

– Persons with an * have not been confirmed by the Senate.
– Salaries are shown for those that have been made public.
– Every position listed is filling a role that could be served by an existing department in the government perhaps saving more than $3-6 Million in annual salaries.
– Some czars even appear to be duplicates (2 auto czars, multiple middle east czars, etc)

1. Richard Holbrooke* – Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan
2. Jeffrey Crowley* -Director of Office of National AIDS Policy ($102,000/yr salary)
3. Ed Montgomery* – Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers (Auto Recovery Czar)
4. Alan Bersin* – Assistant Seecretary for International Affairs and Special Representative for Border Affairs (Border Czar)
5. David Hayes – Deput Interior Secretary (California Water Czar)
6. Ron Bloom* – Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury (Car Manufacturing Czar)
7. Dennis Ross* – Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region (Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Asia Czar)
8. Todd Stern* – Special Envoy for Climate Change (Climate Czar)
9. Lynn Rosenthal* – White House adviser on Violence Against Women (Domestic Violence Czar)
10. Gil Kerlikoske – Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (Drug Czar)
11. Paul Volcker* – Chairman of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (Economy Czar)
12. Carol Browner* – Assitant to the president for Energy and Climate Change(Energy and Environment Czar) – $172,000/yr salary
13. Joshua DuBois* – Director of the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (Faith-based Czar) – $98,000/yr salary
14. Jeffrey Zients – Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget (Performance Czar)
15. Cameron Davis* – Speical advisor to the U.S. EPA overseeing Great Lakes restoration (Great Lakes Czar)
16. Van Jones* – Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation an the White House Council on Environment Quality (Green Jobs Czar)
17. Daniel Fried* – Special envoy to oversee the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo Closure Czar)
18. Nancy-Ann DeParle* – Counselor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Health Reform (Health Czar) – $158,000/yr salary
19. Vivek Kundra* – Federal Chief Information Officer (information czar)
20. Dennis Blair – Director of National Intelligence (Intelligence Czar) – $197,000/yr salary
21. George Mitchell* – Special Envoy for Middle East Peace (Mideast Peace Czar)
22. Kenneth Feinberg* – Special Master on executive pay (Pay Czar)
23. Cass Sunstein – Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (Regulatory Czar)
24. John Holdren – Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-CHair of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (Science Czar)
25. Earl Devaney* – Chair of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board (Stimulus Accountability Czar)
26. J.S. Gration* – Special Envoy to Sudan (Sudan Czar)
27. Herb Allison* – Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability (TARP Czar)
28. Aneesh Chopra – Chief Technology Officer (Technology Czar)
29. John Brennan* – Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism (Terrorism Czar) – $172,000/yr salary
30. Adolfo Carrion* – White House Director of Urban Affairs (Urban Affairs Czar) – $158,500
31. Ashton Carter – Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (Weapons Czar)
32. Gary Samore* – White House Coordinator for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Security and Arms Control (WMD Czar)

Members of Congress have asked for a halt on the hiring of Czars and circumvention of the roll of the Senate in the confirmation and vetting of the executive branch of our government.  With luck, that means the current set of Czars and Czarinas may get the review our Constitution requires.