Latschar To Go

I feel like playing that music from the tail end of the The Wizard of Oz, "Ding Dong, the Witch is dead." Except in this case, the Witch is going to be reassigned.

On Monday, John Latschar will be leaving his position as Superintendant of Gettysburg National Park. He will be given a desk job in the National Park Service. I guess this is what passes for accountability in the federal government. I wonder if his "desk job" will pay him his current $145,000 salary. If so, I want his new job. They could pay me $200 per sheet. I'll ask for $100 a page to print from the computer.

You get a sense of the vanity of politicians and federal officials from Latschar's departing statement. "Strangely enough, right now, in addition to the sorrow for the grief I've caused friends and family, I'm feeling almost a sense of relief. I've spent the last 21 years of my life in the public arena, where everything I say or do is considered fair game."

Oh please. Running Gettysburg National Park is important. Being the Gettysburg superintendant matters because that individual safeguards a vital part of our national heritage. However, it's not as if he's the president or an electoral officeholder. No one searched his trash for a piece of his private life. Pundits on cable TV did not scrutinize his every policy move. Comedians on late night TV did not write jokes about his sex life. It is because he imported his sex life, or the lack thereof, into his working hours that he is out of a job.

My advice to him is to confine his Internet porn search to his private hours.