Understanding Government

Another in Understanding Government’s series “Public Service Announcement” profiling the careers and challenges of notable government employees

By Norman Kelley

At the epicenter of last year’s economic meltdown, along with the disappearance of major financial firms, was the collapse of IndyMac Federal Bank, a California-based institution that found itself overwhelmed with distressed mortgages. A result of the nation’s toxic housing bubble (and an at-sleep-at-the-wheel regulatory infrastructure), IndyMac was emblematic of the country’s national mortgage foreclosure crisis.  FDIC economist Clare Rowley was in the eye of Indy Mac’s particular hurricane, trying to rectify that bank’s troubled assets and find ways to save homeowners with IndyMac mortgages from foreclosure.

Clare Rowley

In July 2008, along with other FDIC colleagues, Rowley was dispatched to Pasadena, California, site of IndyMac’s home office. There she helped implement a mortgage modification program that allowed qualified but struggling mortgage holders to stay in their homes. The FDIC’s modification program, which some called a “Model in a Box,” consisted of three basic parts: lowering interest rates, extending  loan terms, and principal forbearance.  The model worked:  by the spring of 2009, 88 % of modified loans were still in force.

When the new Obama administration began tackling the mortgage crisis in mid-2009, (more…)

Early this morning as I was taking my 36-minute run (see, Orszag only runs for 35), I thought about what it takes to make a good public servant.  Well, not the whole time — part of it I was thinking about when I could stop running.  But I’ve been mulling over Jodi Kantor’s New York Times profile of Peter Orszag.  The shot of the dashing young OMB chief in his spotless living room, a blur of efficiency passing the lovely family photos on the side table . . . (more photos here!).  The mention of his new girlfriend . . . . Orszag’s comment, tossed in casually at the end, about the short tenure of most directors at OMB  — as if he’s worried about his future in Washington!  It was all so beautifully calibrated and made me wonder . . . where the hell is my publicist? 

A profile of another ambitious Washington type, this one in the Washington Post, filled me with slightly more hope.  This was Ashley Halsey’s look at Chuck Fox, a guy who really matters for government in your backyard if you live anywhere near the Chesapeake Bay (about 17 million people do).  Fox, now senior adviser at EPA, has devoted most of his life to the environment and many years to saving the Chesapeake, which is a beautiful place, but a rapidly deteriorating one for all kinds of fish, shellfish, birds, plants, and people. 

Two important public servants.  Two generously-drawn portraits in Washington’s favorite newspapers.  But one difference in these men’s ambitions:  Fox’s have (to date at least) focused on a specific set of issues, people, and places.  As for Mr. Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget?  May God bless him and his work.  But let’s hope that all he does is about more than Peter Orszag.

GIMBY is Understanding Government’s effort to capture what government is doing where people live.  All kinds of public servants will end up under our microscope, and we’re going to ask our readers to tell us about government employees who have made a difference or made things worse.  If you have someone you think our growing readership should know about, please contact us.  That’ll help keep us running. -NH

There are many ways to tell a story, and Jane Johnston, editor of the Newburgh Advocate — and a part-time reporter for GIMBY — brings people’s concerns about new shale deposit gas drilling in the Hudson Valley to life with this remarkable series of on-site sketches and quotes.  Faces emerge from the crowd.  Phrases like "water is the real staff of life" and "an aquifer cannot be restored" and "we need to get this right in New York State" join sober assessments such as "the DEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation) doesn’t have enough staff."  View Jane’s insightful reporting here. -NH

At a time when of great financial instability that government agencies did not do enough to stop, it’s hard to be positive about government.  But just as you can’t judge a country only by the decisions of its leaders, we shouldn’t judge our government without looking at the people who actually do the hard work day to day.  Every year the Partnership for Public Service gives us reasons to hope — the nominees and winners of their Service to America Medals.  If you think the phrase "effective government" is an oxymoron, take a look at what these public servants have done to work to eliminate malaria, or to stop the abuse of government contracts in Iraq, or to spark the growth of renewable energy sources in the United States.  That’s only three of this year’s eight winners, who were selected from more than 29 finalists, who were selected from scores of nominees.  These government employees’ work points up what we’re all fighting for — an America that can solve its problems and is ready to help other countries and their people live better lives.

Mother Nature, that is.  Given the EPA’s challenges, we can’t rely on it to do everything…and whatever you think about what Washington should be doing better, it’s a great thing when citizens step up to help their community.  Tina Kelley reports in the New York Times about Riverkeeper, an environmental non-profit that tests the water around New York City to see when — if ever — it will be safe for recreational use.  Riverkeeper’s project, called "Swimmable River," is building an online record of the Hudson’s toxin levels and safety for recreation.  Accessible information about real environmental problems?  Maybe the EPA could take a lesson from these folks.  Read Tina Kelley here. -NH