[Opinion] Political Hangers-on

“Even Homer nods, he’s still Homer, but politicians who lost the elections are not even humans,” politicians would say with a sigh. They refer to the stark contrast between the sitting assemblymen, who enjoy treatment worth ministers, as well as numerous privileges, and former ones who get nothing. President Lee Myung-bak had been both. He called in the 17th National Assembly members who lost their seats at this year’s general elections to his presidential office Friday to give them a treat. He must have done this because “he was there” too. “I was trying to call you but I didn’t know what to say,” said Lee. He knew how they felt, fully capable of putting himself in their shoes.

At the dinner table, a seasoned politician said, “The 21st century is the era of environmental concerns, and one of the keywords of the time is recycling,” signaling his expectations for an appointment to a government post. Another lawmaker said, “There is a saying, ‘Out of sight, out of mind.` Give me more chance to see you.” Though spoken humorously, it could be misunderstood as putting pressure on the president about personnel management.

The failure of former administrations has something to do with their personnel management, giving out important titles and positions to political hangers-on. The presidential office used to send its friends to high positions at public corporations. The military dictators took care of their fellow generals, Kim Young-sam his mountaineering companions, and Kim Dae-jung his fellow democratization activists. Rumor has it that when a member of a criminal organization took the position of an auditor at a public corporation, the office was soon frequented by brawny young men with crew-cut.

The Roh Moo-hyun administration had a similar gang of hangers-on, mostly the “386” generation and leftists. They are the heads of government agencies and public organizations clinging to their term after two months since the new administration took office. President Lee expressed his will to keep political considerations to minimum when he appoints CEOs or directors of public organizations. “The positions should be filled by experts. I am willing to select talents from CEOs in private organizations,” said Lee on April 25. Some of his election campaign aides may have some expertise. But those who have little talent and many reasons to expect favors from the president should be filtered out. Otherwise, his reform effort for public organizations is doomed to failure.

Editorial Writer Gwon Sun-taek (maypole@donga.com)