By Charles Melton
Melton’s Musings
Since this column appears in the Christmas Day edition of The Hutchinson Tribune, I have a Christmas story to tell.
I have mentioned in previous columns that I took the second round of the federal Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) and officially retired from federal civil service on Sept. 27. I’ve also written about the trips I took, things I did, and a project or two that I’ve been working on since I walked out of my office in Washington, D.C., for the last time in April.
Now it’s time, in the immortal words of Paul Harvey, for “the rest of the story.”
Webster’s defines anthology as “a collection of selected literary pieces or passages or works of art or music.” Since I couldn’t find a better word to describe one of my pet projects, I grabbed anthology and redefined it on my terms. My definition is “a collection of personal stories that need to be heard by the American people from Congress down to the average person.”
As many of you read in the national headlines and saw on national news, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency made cutting the number of federal employees, especially those in the Washington, D.C., as much as possible beginning with their “Fork in the Road” email that went out to all federal employees giving them the option to go on administrative leave beginning in February and coming off the federal payroll at the end of September a major point of emphasis.
That program was labelled the DRP, and when not enough federal employees took the first offer, a second offer was made with administrative leave set to start in late March or April with the thinly veiled threat of having their positions cut and only getting six weeks of pay if they didn’t take the second DRP.
Since I was one of the tens of thousands of federal employees who took the second DRP, I wanted to tell my story, but I knew that were countless other U.S. Department of Agriculture employees who had a story similar to mine that needed to be told.
On a lark, I posted on LinkedIn that I was looking for USDA employees who would be willing to tell their stories about how they were basically forced into taking the DRP by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins without much expectation of getting more than a handful of stories. I gave them the option of using their names, using their initials or remaining completely anonymous. Granting complete anonymity goes against my grain as a reporter, but given the very real concerns about retaliation from the current administration and possibility of having a negative impact on their future job prospects I chose to give them that option.
Much to my surprise, that LinkedIn post and my subsequent posts requesting DRP stories quickly spread by word of mouth and by the end of September, I had enough stories and interest from national media like Bloomberg and Politico to put together an anthology.
My original plan was to print it and personally deliver it to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate ag committees, but between the government shutdown and my move to Hutchinson that didn’t work out. Instead I posted it on my LinkedIn page and as of Friday morning it had received 10,606 impressions and had been reposted by 38 other people on LinkedIn, so it’s definitely received plenty of attention. In fact, I’m working on Volume 2 right now, but I don’t have a set date for its release.
The stories in the anthology broke my heart and angered me as, to a person, there remains a sense of loss because not one of them wanted to take the DRP. They took it because they were led to believe that they didn’t have another viable option due to the complete lack of information provided by Rollins regarding the future of their positions. They wanted to stay with USDA; they wanted to continue serving the American public and American ag producers; and they were absolute rockstars in doing so. I know because I’ve edited and reviewed at least 50 former federal employees’ resumes since June, and I never cease to be amazed how qualified and how much these people have accomplished in their careers. From presidential advisors on down I have seen resumes that have left me shaking my head as to how these people don’t have new jobs yet, much less that they’re asking me to review and edit their resumes. I do it for free because the thought of them paying someone else $300 to do it is something I can’t stomach.
If you’d like to read their stories, just go to my LinkedIn page and scroll down until you find it. Or just reach out to me and I’ll gladly email it to you. Then let me know what you think. I’d love to get your feedback.
Charles Melton is the News Editor of The Hutchinson Tribune. He can be reached at charles@hutchtribune.com.