Back in the USSR?

Tallahassee–Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer today released the following statement regarding President Obama’s most recent appointment of yet another czar to his administration which, in 5 short months, has now surpassed the number of czars appointed during the 300 years of Russia’s Romanov Dynasty:

“It is absolutely ridiculous that President Obama has appointed, and will most likely continue to appoint, countless czars which are nothing more than symbolic figureheads to demonstrate to the American people that he is concerned about the buzz word of the day–border czar, regulation czar, infotech czar, urban czar, the list goes on and even includes a “compensation czar,” responsible for deciding the salaries of the top 100 employees of publicly traded companies!”

In over 300 years, the Romanov Dynasty ruled Russia with only 18 czars, yet in only five short months, the United States now has an excess of over 20 czars. What happened to cutting back and doing more with less?”

“These absurd positions do nothing but take away from the transparency that President Obama promised the American people. Who do the czars report to? The President? Members of the Cabinet? Congress? Certainly not the American people? These czars allow for an unacceptable sense of unaccountability in our government. What happened to the checks and balances between the branches of government that our forefathers carefully built into our Constitution? To me it looks like those values are being side stepped in favor of an army of presidentially appointed mini-dictators. Enough is enough.”

Obama Now Has "Upward of 20" Czars: "Name a top issue and President Barack Obama has probably got a 'czar' responsible for tackling it ... There are upward of 20 such top officials, all with lengthy official titles but known in the media as czars ... Linda Fowler, a professor of government at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, said presidents often appoint czars in a symbolic move to show they care about an issue." (Steve Holland, "Obama Fashions A Government of Many Czars," Reuters, 5/29/09)

This List Is Only Conservative Estimate: "In addition to [border czar Alan] Bersin, we have energy czar Carol Browner, urban czar Adolfo Carrion, Jr., infotech czar Vivek Kundra, faith-based czar Joshua DuBois, health reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle, new TARP czar Herb Allison, stimulus accountability czar Earl Devaney, non-proliferation czar Gary Samore, terrorism czar John Brennan, regulatory czar Cass Sunstein, drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, and Guantanamo closure czar Daniel Fried. We also have a host of special envoys that fall into the czar category including AfPak special envoy Richard Holbrooke, Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell, special advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia Dennis Ross, Sudan special envoy J. Scott Gration and climate special envoy Todd Stern. That's 18. This is a very conservative estimate, however ... [Y]ou could count de facto car czar Steve Rattner ... You could count National Director of Int elligence Dennis Blair, often referred to as the intelligence czar ... I'm not going to count Paul Volcker who was referred to as Obama's economic czar." (David J. Rothkopf, "It's Official: Obama Creates More Czars Than The Romanovs," Foreign Policy, 4/16/09)
Russia's Romanov Dynasty Only Had 18 Czars In Over 300 Years. "[T]he Obama administration has by any reasonable reckoning passed the Romanov Dynasty in the production of czars. The Romanovs ruled Russia from 1613 with the ascension of Michael I through the abdication of Czar Nicholas II in 1917. During that time, they produced 18 czars. While it is harder to exactly count the number of Obama administration czars, with yesterday's appointment it seems fair to say it is now certainly in excess of 18." (David J. Rothkopf, "It's Official: Obama Creates More Czars Than The Romanovs," Foreign Policy, 4/16/09)
In Letter To The White House, Senator Byrd Warned: "The rapid and easy accumulation of power by White House staff can threaten the constitutional system of checks and balances." (Cindy Skrzycki, "Obama's Czars Breed Chain-Of-Command Confusion," Bloomberg, 3/17/09)
American University Governance Expert Warned Czars Create Less Accountable, More "Incomprehensible" System. "This scenario lends credence to the concern that czars will add a layer of opaqueness and unaccountability to a rule-making system that's largely incomprehensible to the outside world and a puzzle even to seasoned pros representing industry groups, companies and the public. 'Every time you add another variable, you will have trouble sorting out what had influence on a rulemaking,' said Cornelius Kerwin, president of American University in Washington who wrote the book, 'Rulemaking: How Government Agencies Write Law and Make Policy.' 'It's not like legislative or judicial decisions.'" (Cindy Skrzycki, "Obama's Czars Breed Chain-Of-Command Confusion," Bloomberg, 3/17/09