Federal Insider: Christie on Trump's plan to fire feds faster and clean out Obama's people

“As you know from his other career, Donald likes to fire people.”

That was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) talking to the donor class in a closed-door meeting at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week. Christie was both recalling the reality television career of Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and projecting Trump’s attitude toward federal employees if he wins.

Christie, manager of Trump’s transition project, focused on the conversion of political appointees to civil service positions and the long-held desire of Republicans to make firing feds faster.

“It’s called burrowing,” Christie said of the conversions in an audio recording obtained by Reuters, which broke the story. “You take them from the political appointee side into the civil service side, to try to set up … roadblocks for your successor.”

Burrowing conjures images of a ferret, taking over a prairie dog’s underground abode and eating the original homeowner. In the federal government, it evokes a political agent getting a protected job, perhaps at the expense of a career worker. Christie takes it a step further, adding the notion of a Democratic operative becoming a civil servant to sabotage Trump initiatives.

The image is more dramatic than the reality.

Burrowing gets some attention every presidential election year, but the practice can only be so sinister if it is so scarce. Almost all political appointees leave government when their party does.

During the four years beginning in May 2005, 42 federal agencies converted only about 140 political and congressional employees to career slots, according to 2010 Government Accountability Office report. That period includes 2008, a presidential election year when burrowing would most likely occur. There are more than 2 million federal employees.

Seven of those conversions “may not have adhered to merit system principles, followed proper procedures, or may have engaged in prohibited personnel practices or other improprieties,” GAO found. “Some of the improper procedures included preselecting particular individuals for career positions and selecting former political appointees who appeared to have limited qualifications and/or experience relevant to the career positions.”

Policies are in place to protect against those irregularities. In January, Beth Cobert, the acting Office of Personnel Management (OPM) director, reminded agencies “of the need to ensure all personnel actions remain free of political influence or other improprieties.” OPM must approve conversions from political slots to civil service positions.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent letters to two dozen agencies on Wednesday asking for information on burrowing.