Federal officials at the time of the Gilded Age created the civil service as way to insulate government workers from the influence of politics. The Pendleton Act and the Civil Service Act of 1883 established the merit-based system, which ended the practice of awarding government jobs as political favors and led to the system that is currently in place.
But in the case of the IRS scandal, the very system aimed at keeping
politics out of the civil service is helping the person who admitted to
targeting tea party groups stay on the government payroll.
Lois Lerner,
who headed the tax-exempt division of the IRS, was placed on paid
administrative leave this week after she admitted to and apologized for
the IRS's targeting of tea party groups.
But the fact that she's expected to continue to receive her six-figure
salary raised hackles in both parties and touched off a media sprint to
explain why it is so difficult to fire federal civilian employees.
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