Tag Archives: Sammies

Draining the Swamp

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Everyone by now has heard this phrase popularized most recently by Donald Trump when running for president. This post is not about Trump, however. It’s about that swamp. The “swamp” that so many Americans, out of ignorance, love to hate.

You likely wouldn’t recognize the denizens of the swamp if you passed them on the street. With very few exceptions, they’re not Hollywood material and don’t appear in movies or television. But if you’re alive and reading this, it’s likely due to their work, the work that goes largely unrecognized outside the government itself.

Unknown most likely to most of the country, the extraordinary work of federal employees is recognized annually by the Partnership for Public Service with the presentation of the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals. Mr. Heyman was the founder of the Partnership. In keeping with America’s attachment to award presentations, the “Sammies” are delivered in a black-tie award dinner every year in Washington (virtually during pandemics), much like the Oscars – with award announcements by notable presenters, acceptance speeches and all the rest. But, thankfully, there are no musical numbers or unpleasant comedians running the show.

No, the Sammy awards are serious business, although the dinner, rightly so, can be something of an extravaganza. https://servicetoamericamedals.org/about/ For the most part, it’s an inside-the-Beltway thing, but it shouldn’t be. The contributions these people make to the country and the world deserve national public recognition far more than the “award” shows watched by millions and scorned annually by many. The Sammies are cut from different cloth and it’s a shame that they are not recognized for the ways these people contribute to the progress of our lives.

I was moved to produce this post by the 2021 award for Federal Employee of the Year, shared by two swamp workers to whom you likely owe your life and that of your loved ones, at least if you are vaccinated. The awards went to Kizzmekia S. Corbett, Ph.D. And Barney S. Graham, M.D., Ph.D. As explained in more detail in the video at https://bit.ly/3Dekht8, they essentially created the COVID-19 vaccine that has, literally, saved millions of lives around the world.

For the full list of current and past winners/finalists, see https://bit.ly/3FgoDAm. Pay particular attention to the Finalists.  Their contributions to public life are beyond exceptional in fields so rich with talent and desire to serve that they were recognized but did not “win.” The real winners, of course, are the American public and in many cases people and ecosystems around the world.

So, the next time you hear someone put down those “federal bureaucrats,” remember the Sammies and the people who earned them. You owe them much more than clichéd derogatory labels.

Sammies – A Better Oscar

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Some years ago, when my wife worked for a union representing federal employees, I attended a Sammies award ceremony. Sammies is the shorthand for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America medal. You may not have heard of them, but this is the deal:

The Sammies, known as the “Oscars” of government service, are a highly respected honor with a rigorous selection process. Named for the Partnership for Public Service’s late founder who was inspired by President Kennedy’s call to serve in 1963, these awards align with his vision of a dynamic and innovative federal workforce that meets the needs of the American people.

The Partnership is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to help make our government more effective, and the Sammies honorees represent the many exceptional federal workers who are doing just that—breaking down barriers, overcoming huge challenges and getting results. Whether they’re defending the homeland, protecting the environment, ensuring public safety, making scientific and medical discoveries, or responding to natural and man-made disasters, these men and women put service before self and make a lasting difference. [https://servicetoamericamedals.org/about/]

Like the annual Oscars, I frankly don’t recall much of the detail of the ceremony which was, like the movie Oscars, long with speeches explaining each award and with thank you statements from recipients. What I do clearly remember, however, is how impressed I was with the nature of the achievements being honored.

I was reminded of this by today’s editorial in the New York Times entitled “The Wreckage Betsy DeVos Leaves Behind.” https://nyti.ms/3hFswo7 It’s a condemnation of the terrible legacy in one of the nation’s most important components (education of our children). It summarizes what happens when the philosophy of “less government” is turned over to incompetent ideologues who simply produce “bad government” and believe it’s the same result. This is the story of agency after agency, function after function under the morally and substantively bankrupt management of the Trump administration’s gang of grifters.

Yet, under it all, persevering and achieving, were federal employees accomplishing amazing feats, largely without awareness by the general public. This is the true “deep state” that was so often vilified by Trump’s lieutenants in service to his fevered imaginings. Here are just two excerpts, among thousands of their achievements:

LINA ALATHARI, PH.D. – 2020 Finalist in Safety, Security & International Affairs

As head of the Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, Lina Alathari has expanded the agency’s traditional role by supporting state and local governments, law enforcement and school districts nationwide in the fight against targeted violence.

… Alathari and her team have delivered more than 1,200 training sessions to more than 83,000 law enforcement officers, educators, mental health providers, government officials, faith-based leaders and other private organizations across 50 states. Hundreds of schools and communities have adopted Alathari’s behavior-based threat prevention protocols.

“The 2019 Secret Service research report analyzed 41 attacks and found that many could have been prevented by using Alathari’s threat assessment model,” Murray [Director of the Secret Service] said. “There are people doing active shooter response research, but no one is doing prevention intervention research like her.”

Rory Cooper – 2017 Winner in Science & Environment

In the years following … [a] 1980 accident [while serving in the Army that left him paralyzed & confined to a wheelchair], Cooper founded the nation’s leading assistive technology research laboratory and has been the driving force behind game-changing innovations in the design of manual and power wheelchairs, adaptive sports and recreational equipment, and rehabilitation instrumentation.

“Rory Cooper’s inventions are used by over one-quarter million people with disabilities, and research equipment he designed is being used in nearly 100 laboratories and training facilities around the world,”

Cooper and his team are credited with 25 patents that have advanced wheelchair technology. He has spearheaded such innovations as a wheelchair with robotic arms that features hands that can grasp, and he has improved motorized wheelchairs by taking advantage of new capabilities in electronics, safety and controls, and by making changes to steering mechanisms and seating functions.

I could go on and on with this, but you get the idea. Just take a cursory look at the website if you dare to have your preconceptions about the federal workforce changed.  https://bit.ly/2LaXNDb And the next time you hear someone make a crack about federal workers, or government workers at any level for that matter, challenge them to do some self-education. Throughout the past four years, Donald Trump, his family and his enablers in the White House, Congress and elsewhere have done everything they can to undermine the effectiveness of the United States government, to weaken it, and with it the entire country, in the eyes of the world. It’s time now to reverse that disgusting, ill-informed and self-defeating legacy of shame with recognition and honor for those laboring largely in the shadows to make the world safer for everyone.