[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 108 (Thursday, June 29, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1361]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



[[Page E 1361]]


                       HONOR FOR PUBLIC SERVANTS

                                 ______


                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 29, 1995
  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, government employees don't 
have much of a cheering section these days. The men and women who work 
diligently and conscientiously to serve our citizens and make 
government operate seem to be bearing more than their portion of the 
blame for what's perceived to be wrong with the world. The critics are 
relentless.
  So, it is particularly noteworthy that in a recent commencement 
address at the University of California at Berkeley, the Commissioner 
of the Bureau of Reclamation, Dan Beard, a self-confessed public 
servant with much pride in his years of service, extolled the virtues 
of public service. His message to the graduates was that the public 
employees who are being denigrated are not strangers but our friends 
and neighbors, whose responsibility is foremost to serve the public 
good.
  I know the Commissioner to be an exemplary public servant from his 
service as the Staff Director of the Water and Power Subcommittee 
during my chairmanship, and later as the Director for the Full 
Committee during my tenure as chairman. And I am gratified that he has 
taken this opportunity to speak out on behalf of public servants, and 
to challenge those who demean their contributions and their service.
  I would call to my colleagues' attention the following excerpt from 
the Commissioner's address at Berkeley printed earlier this month by 
the San Francisco Chronicle.
  The article follows:
           [From the San Francisco Chronicle, June 14, 1995]

                     The Myth About Public Servants

                             (By Dan Beard)

       I have a confession to make: I have worked in government 
     for more than two decades. Even more scandalous, I am a 
     political appointee who believes it is an honor to work with 
     career public servants.
       I guess those are dangerous things to admit these days, 
     given the strong undercurrent of suspicion and mistrust 
     surrounding public service. But they are beliefs I have 
     expressed throughout my career--and they are especially 
     important to emphasize now that I am leaving government.
       We seem to be awash in a steady media diet of supposed 
     examples of government employees who have gone too far. Of 
     power-mad bureaucrats harassing private citizens or squeezing 
     the life out of small businesses and property owners.
       For a growing number of critics, everything that government 
     does is viciously wrong, or at least hopelessly wrong-headed. 
     According to them, we cannot rely on public servants to 
     strike a fair balance between the public good and economic 
     security.
       Most of the critics of government rely on a volatile 
     mixture of myth and innuendo to make their case. They ignore 
     the amazing contributions that millions of government workers 
     have made to American prosperity, peace, happiness and yes, 
     freedom.
       How completely different is today's atmosphere from the 
     beginning of this century, an era dominated by the first true 
     Republican reformer, Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt believed most 
     deeply and passionately in the values of public service.
       ``The first duty of an American citizen,'' he once said, 
     ``is that he should work in politics; the second is that he 
     shall do that work in a practical manner; and the third is 
     that it shall be done in accord with the highest principles 
     of honor and justice.''
       Roosevelt spent five years as a member of the U.S. Civil 
     Service Commission, and as its leading reformer worked to 
     dismantle the spoils system and institute what we have today: 
     a merit-based civil service system.
       Before we malign government workers, let's think about who 
     they really are. They are the people who led the rescue in 
     Oklahoma City--not who caused it. They are the ones who are 
     charged with apprehending those suspected of being 
     responsible. Every day, they make their contributions to 
     society, ensuring our food is safe to eat, the water fit to 
     drink, and the air clean enough to breathe, teaching our 
     children to read and write, protecting our neighborhoods and 
     our nation as a whole.
       Public servants are not monsters, and they are not 
     strangers. All of us know them--they are our neighbors, 
     friends, parents, children.
       They are not, as the National Rifle Association would have 
     us believe, ``jack-booted thugs'' who thrive on intimidating 
     law-abiding citizens.
       They are there to serve. Yes, they should be held strictly 
     accountable and be efficient. And yes, sometimes they will do 
     things that annoy us. Who wants to be given a parking 
     ticket--until someone blocks us in or out by parking 
     illegally.
       Who wants to be made to conform to strict environmental 
     laws--until we want clean water and air. Who wants government 
     at all--until we want well-maintained highways, first-class 
     public universities, tremendous medical and scientific 
     technology, incredible national security and so on.
       Public servants should not be castigated for doing their 
     jobs. Most do a job that we couldn't do without. They deserve 
     our respect.
       The highest reward for any work is not what you get for it, 
     but what you become by it. It is the goal of most government 
     workers that our country becomes better by their work.
       We should and do have vigorous and honest debate about what 
     our government should be involved in. But, we can have it 
     without vilifying public servants.
       To all our nation's public servants, I say ``thank you.'' 
     You do a great deal of good for this country and the world--
     much, much more than many now give you credit for.
     

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