D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey had to laugh when telling The Beltway Beat that he's been around law enforcement long enough - three decades and counting - that "when I used to write the letters DNA all over my police reports, it stood for Does Not Apply." Chief Ramsey says he still relies on DNA in his police work, albeit today it stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, or the genetic material in humans.
GRANDMA'S BOUNDARIES
Speaking of veteran police chiefs - or, in this case, a former U.S. Park Police chief who was fired by the Interior Department for going public with departmental budget concerns in this age of terrorism - you'd never know that Teresa Chambers was embroiled in a lawsuit against Uncle Sam over her dismissal. "People say to me that you must regret (accepting the police chief's job), and I answer, 'Regret? No! It is the greatest place I've ever been. I have the best memories.'" Or so Chambers, a 30-year police veteran and former police chief in Durham, N.C., told the Northern Virginia Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration during its annual awards dinner Tuesday (where, if we might digress, The Beltway Beat column was honored with the 2006 Hodding Carter Outstanding Journalism Award). In remarks centering on ethics in the workplace, the whistle-blowing former chief, who accused the Bush administration of silencing dissenting viewpoints such as her own, praised President Bush's father, former President George Bush, for observing that a true leader uses his or her power "to help people . . . to serve people." "A leader leads by good common sense," she recalled. "A leader leads by taking risks." She cited the popular leadership checklist used by retired Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, particularly his Rule 14: "Do what is right." However, she pointed out, one need only think of his or her grandmother when confronting an ethical quandary: "Ask yourself, 'What will grandmother say?' Stay within those boundaries, and you'll be OK."
RIGHT RESTORED
The National Rifle Association this week delivered once again on its role of upholding the Second Amendment, as Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco signed into law the NRA-backed Emergency Powers Protection Act. The law prevents governments in her state from confiscating firearms during a state of emergency, as took place in New Orleans last year. "The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina became the proving ground for what American gun owners have always feared: the day that government bureaucrats throw the Bill of Rights in the trash and declare freedom to be whatever they say it is," says NRA chief Wayne LaPierre.
INCONSISTENT AL
Al Gore worries the world's getting hot,
And all over the globe he will trot,
Warmly warning the masses
About grave greenhouse gases
Caused by people who travel a lot.
- F.R. Duplantier
HILLARY AND BARNEY
She's not president - yet - but one might gather as much given the language used to tout one speech the other day to the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. "Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver a major policy address on privacy," the society states, adding that "featured remarks" will then be delivered by Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat. Oh, well, Frank already made his waves Tuesday when blasting John R. Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, for his "disastrous tenure" leading to a "diminution of American influence." "Anyone who doubts the wisdom of the constitutional requirement that important officials be confirmed by the Senate before taking up their jobs should ponder the disastrous example of John Bolton, whom the Senate declined to confirm as ambassador to the U.N., and who received a recess appointment from President Bush," Frank stated.
BOSTON IN COMMON
What occasion brought Rep. Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts Democrat, Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns and TV talkmeister John McLaughlin together the other night? A reception for alumni and friends of Boston College - at the Jordanian Embassy, no less - with guest of honor the Rev. William P. Leahy, the college president. Continued... |