Newt downsized executive branch staff in the 90’s

I found this link in Sitemeter and am in a quixotic mood. I couldn’t resist chasing it down as I wondered what Free Republic was and how Mike’s material could be used in a debate there.

Lifted from comments at Free Republic website regarding Newt’s speech at CPAC earlier this week (and a spirited debate of advocates for Santorum and Romney) comes this note from a Newt admirer regarding Newt’s downsizing the ‘federal government’ in the 1990’s (and to his credit linked appropriately). He uses one of Mike’s early charts on executive branch civilian employment measures of compararing Presidents:

To: American Constitutionalist  

Chart of federal civilian employees…big decline under the Newtster, even while the economy was booming. The decline leveled off post-Newtster. We can see the Carter/Bush eras saw declines in their recessions but Newt kept it going in good economic times.

Another commenter not linked to here chased the link (to his/her credit) to the OMB tables and but then came to the conclusion Mike made up the numbers.

I am not proposing cosmic signigicance here, but a scratch of the head and a ‘WTF’.   As a leftie I suppose the conclusion could be that President Clinton found Newt’s tenure as Speaker so less than challenging he decided that he didn’t need the staff. Aside from all the other business. Thanks Ken for the idea.   🙂