Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who recently lost his bid for re-election, will be remembered fondly by the friends of the Public Service Academy. Back in 2006, long before we had any momentum behind the Academy, Sen. Specter agreed to meet personally with Academy staff members. After an hour of intense, skeptical questioning, Sen. Specter was convinced that the Academy was a great idea, and he decided to join Sen. Clinton in writing a bill to create the Academy. Though none of his Republican Senate colleagues joined him at the time, Sen. Specter courageously pushed ahead and stood as a stalwart supporter of ours during the past few years. We will always appreciate his support.

From Holly Harper:

“I hate government because I know these guys…and let me tell you,
the weakest most drunken, f*#$ing incompetents went to work for the
U.S. government because they weren’t smart enough for the private
sector,” says the fictional Jeff Skilling, a character based on former
Enron chief Jeff Skilling in the Broadway play “Enron.”

Sadly the fictional Mr. Skilling has a point, especially if we base
his conclusions on recent headlines these past few months. Granted,
there are many dedicated and talented employees in civil service, but
is our government really attracting the best and brightest? Are new
ideas about evaluations, performance, business practices, and
management permeating the policies and actions of our nation’s largest
employers: federal, state, and local government agencies? Let’s
explore some problems:

First, in the wake of the worst financial crisis in decades, it
emerges that “dozens” of Securities and Exchange Commission employees
have been using government computers to access pornographic images.
Some senior staffers raking in more than $200,000 per year spent their
work time on the tax payers’ dime cruising XXX Web sites. While our
economy takes a trip on a terrifying roller coaster and thousands of
people have lost their jobs and savings accounts, these dirtbags are
downloading porn instead of policing the financial community like they
are paid to do. Talk about a group of folks with moral fortitude. It’s
disgusting.

Second, BusinessWeek recently called the Mine Safety and Health
Administration “broken” in the wake of allegations that the agency
allowed companies to avoid penalties through a flawed system. The same
flawed system that may have led to the tragic death of 29 workers at
Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, West Virginia
last month (the worst U.S. mining explosion in 40 years). The question
here is: if the MSHA system is “broken,” why weren’t MSHA leaders
trying to “fix” it? The image of a group of insipid paper-pushers
operating day-in and day-out within a broken system, lacking the
initiative and energy required to overhaul it (despite knowledge that
sticking with the status-quo could cost lives), is depressing. It
shouldn’t take a tragedy to get these people off their
“that’s-the-way-it’s-always-been-done” butts and modernize, fix, test,
and adjust our “broken” federal systems.

And finally, a federal judge was caught putting up a “funny” porn site
while sitting on the bench during court (an obscenity trial, no less),
an IRS employee was caught evading taxes on more than $40,000 of eBay
income, and a National Park Service employee was downloading sexually
explicit images while at work (read more here).

Shouldn’t these civil servants be busy working while at work? Someone
needs to step in, make the government accountable, efficient, and
up-to-date with the latest management practices.

Our country’s continued strength depends, to a certain degree, on
being able to weed out or re-train these pencil-pushing bureaucrats.
We need a cadre of smart, well-trained patriotic young people serving
their country in a civilian capacity. We need them to make sure our
roads are safe, our drinking water isn’t contaminated, our streets are
free from crime, and when we pay their salaries with our tax dollars,
we are getting our money’s worth.

The U.S. Public Service Academy will help tackle the negative stigma
that associates public sector work lazy, red-tape-bound bureaucrats.
The Academy will change the way we prepare our young civilian leaders,
and it will positively impact the way the public perceives public
service.

Ironically, the stage production of “Enron” is following in the
footsteps of its namesake and closing this month. It will go down in
history as one of the most “lavish flops” on Broadway in recent years
with losses estimated at $3.5 million-$4 million.

With the coming of the Academy and a new age of bright, enthusiastic
government employees, we are certain that Skilling’s quote regarding
civil servants will also become a part of history – and hopefully with
it will go the egregious behavior of civil servants everywhere.

My name is Tim Biba and I’m a YAC’er from Pennsylvania. I attended the 2008 Public Service Academy Conference in Washington and have nothing but great things to say. After attending the conference, I’ve never been more motivated to enter public service. If you’re like me, the day that you spend lobbying your members of Congress–in most cases meeting with the actual members–is one that will shape your college career. I promise that you’ll leave feeling the reward of knowing that you have a free and open government that works for you, and you’ll have a better understanding of the concepts that you’re learing about in your classes.

Being from Pennsylvania, my day started at “Breakfast with Bob,” an event where Sen. Bob Casey from Pennsylvania meets with anyone visiting from PA. At breakfast, not only did we get a picture and a chance to talk with Senator Casey, but he handed us his signed endorsement of the legislation that would create a U.S. Public Service Academy. After breakfast, we moved from office to office, speaking with Congressmen and women and their staffers and gaining support for the bill. At the end of the day, after a spirited meeting with Rep. Rick Renzi from Arizona, my group had gathered four or five Academy endorsements and personally met a handful of Senators and Representatives.

Attending the Public Service Academy Conference was an awesome experience and one that left me wanting to spend more time on Capitol Hill. Last semester as part of Syracuse’s Maxwell in Washington Program, I was selected for an internship in Sen. Casey’s DC office. My time with the Academy YAC played a large part in helping me land that experience, and it was one that I absolutely loved. If you’re thinking about attending, it is a great decision. If you’d like to learn more about my experience, I’d be happy to share with you. Send me an email at tfbiba@syr.edu.

But most importantly–Sign up and go this summer!!