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McHenry, Foxx question czar count
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Published: August 12, 2009
Both of Iredell County's Congressional representatives believe the present White House has gone czar crazy.
While top aides actually have more official sounding titles, the term "czar" has been used since the Nixon administration as a shortcut for the top person on a policy, issue or department.
In response to a question from the audience about the matter at his town hall meeting in Mooresville on Monday night, Rep. Patrick McHenry said President Barack Obama had added so many new top aides that he couldn't keep count of them.
"But I've heard 30 or 35 or even 40 czars," McHenry said. "It depends on who you ask."
McHenry said the idea of appointing a so-called czar to oversee an ever-growing variety of issues and policies undercuts the system in place of getting congressional approval for high-ranking positions in the administration.
In an op-ed piece by Rep. Virginia Foxx, the 5th District congresswoman said Obama "produced more czars in his first three months in office than the Russian Romanov Dynasty managed to produce in more than three centuries."
That number, by the way — from Peter the Great to Nicholas II — was 15. In an an article that appeared in the Washington Post in June, Eric Cantor actually came up with about twice that many, when he said Obama has 32 czars. Among them: a Mideast peace czar; a Mideast policy czar; a Sudan czar; Guantanamo czar; green jobs czar; energy czar; technology czar; urban affairs czar; WMD czar; terrorism czar; stimulus accountability czar; TARP czar; government performance czar; car czar; border czar; faith-based czar, health-reform czar; bailout czar; and information czar.
In short, Foxx said czars are "in charge of nearly every conceivable area of government."
And, as the name implies, Foxx feels that the proliferation of czars is the "hallmark of an ever-larger and more powerful federal government."
Foxx said one of the problems with coming up with new czars and their attending programs or policies is that they "tend to take on a life of their own," with the end result being a cost far beyond what was envisioned.
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