Searching for Presidential Appointments
Updated Sunday, February 03, 2008 08:13 PM
Patronage appointments come in endless shapes and sizes, locations, and often in disguise. This page is aimed at those who are not clear about which appointment to consider, or to see how appointments are being made in some particular part of the federal government. There are no gold plated methods for this search, but here are some pieces of information which might help.
First: By the way the federal government is organized, appointments arise out of departments, agencies, or from particular subject matter which may cross the lines of several parts of that government. A solid first step is to select a subject or entity to search.
Second: A number of publications provide lists of appointments. The easy ones to find are those which require Senate confirmation. The Plum Book is a listing of those positions. (That site is shown on the home page of Presidential-Appointments.org.) You may be frustrated by the fact that not all the appointments are easily found. In fact, the Government Accounting Office and other agencies will admit that they cannot track them all themselves. The obvious suggestion is to be meticulous and persistent at the search, you will be more successful.
Third: In the application process, you will eventually have to have contacts in the government to get into the appointment process. There are two main choices - elected officials and government employees - or people in the private sector interested in the subject area of interest. These insider contacts often have real information about appointments that are available, or can find out. Trade associations, non-profits in the subject area, or other similar identifiable groups often have solid information about potential appointments, or have contacts in government that have that information. (This is a very important group because they often have funded programs to track appointments where they want to have some interest or influence.)
The Internet: Without question, the internet is an outstanding source of information. Subject searches often lead to positions in government on that subject matter - and do it quickly. Since politicians often exert power through hiding information and dishing it out to friends, these internet searches can get you past that crowd.
Commercial Consultants: Some political firms have connections in certain areas of government that actually help in getting appointments put together. Others give advice on techniques for securing appointments and do research. Be careful to talk to references if choosing such advisors - for every good consultant in this area - there are many that simply can't be helpful because they don't have the right connections. This is a tricky selection and their fees can be very high. Be cautious about this source of help!
Copyright John Isaacson 2003 - 2008