‘They Really Deserve Raise’

Thank you for your editorial. Quite naturally, I have a personal interest in the subject. But, as a taxpayer I have an even greater concern. I see our organization recruiting top people, insuring that their backgrounds are clean, training them, giving them work experience, and then having them leave for private industry or local government at a substantially greater salary. The same is true with other entities of the federal government.

While many of our citizenry were happy to see the recent congressional raise fail, Congress was really only a small part of that package. The lion’s share of people who were hurt by that legislative failure were the top people in the executive branch and the judiciary.

I work with other federal employees on a daily basis and know them to be hard-working and dedicated. I have seen few in my many years of federal service who fit the stereotype of “the typical bureaucrat.”

However, I have a real concern that the salary disparity will cause those dedicated type of people to shy away from federal service and we will end up with the unemployable running the everyday affairs of the government. That will hurt us all.

Thank you for your support. I hope it is shared by the citizenry.

LAWRENCE G. LAWLER

Special Agent in Charge

FBI

Los Angeles