July 16, 2009 10:42 AM
Obama power grab: 30 czars and counting
Czarist America
By: Tait Trussell
FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, July 16, 2009
In an historic and possibly unconstitutional expansion of Executive authority, President Obama has named more than 30 "czars" with unprecedented and seemingly unlimited authority in a breadth of fields--ranging from U.S. border czar to Iran czar. All are responsible only to Obama. Now, the Messiah's appointment of czars has been labeled a blatant and unconstitutional power grab by an unusual source--the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, Robert Byrd, D-WV.In a February letter to Obama, Byrd wrote that the czars "as presidential assistants and advisors "are not accountable for their actions to Congress, to cabinet officers, or to virtually anyone but the president." He wrote the czarist system violates the Constitutional system of checks-and-balances and the separation of powers, and is a clear attempt to evade Congressional oversight.
The Constitution states that government officers with significant authority--they're called Principal Officers--once nominated by the president are then subject to judgment by the Senate as to their confirmation. Principal Officers include not only members of the president's cabinet but also assistant secretaries and deputy undersecretaries of federal departments. Byrd is hardly an insignificant voice in his party. Byrd endorsed Obama over Hillary Clinton in the West Virginia primary last year. Before that, Senator Byrd was the Left's favorite Constitutional expert during the Iraq War, when he broached the possibility of impeaching George Bush over NSA wiretapping. But he is now largely ignored, as he was during most of the Clinton years.
The appointment of Kenneth Feinberg June 10 as the pay-czar illustrates the breadth of power vested in Obama's czars. Feinberg will have the authority to review, reject and likely determine specific compensation of any company executive who has taken bail-out money from Obama's giant piggy bank.
Read entire article here.
HT: A Mac and a Mug o' Joe
Where is our elected opposition? What are they so afraid of?
Posted in Obama Nation | Permalink
