As administration changes, job seekers flock to Washington

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As administration changes, job seekers flock to Washington

By David Goldstein | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — Tired of your same old job?

Frustrated fan of "The West Wing" and want to try your hand at the real thing?

Or maybe you've just cracked the Plum Book, a glittering bible of soon-to-be-vacated federal jobs, and saw an opening on the International Boundary and Water Commission for a tidy $158,000 a year and thought, "Hey, I can do that."

Step right up, would-be public servant. Welcome to the great capital job fair, where every four or eight years — whenever a new president is elected — parts of the federal bureaucracy turn over and jobs become as available as Cape Cod cottages in January.

Wall Street might be tanking and Detroit is on a bender. But Washington, notwithstanding a 7.4 percent unemployment rate, is experiencing flush times. The political side of the city is, anyway.

"It's the time when people are hunting, and there are tons of Democratic jobs and very little Republican jobs," said Danny Rotert, a spokesman for Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.

From the White House and the rest of the executive branch, where all the top political appointees and their staffs will change hue from red to blue, to Capitol Hill, where Democrats have boosted their majorities, applications are pouring in.

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