New Deputy Drug Czar: "We Have One Year Left"

Last week, Scott M. Burns was promoted to the #2 position at the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He celebrated the occasion with a candid acknowledgment of the office's blatant political partisanship:

It has been quite a journey from Cedar City to the White House. All I can say is it's a great country that someone like me can have that opportunity," Burns said. "We have one year left and, as the president says, we're going to sprint to the finish." [Salt Lake Tribune]

Sure, the Drug Czar's office is part of the president's cabinet. And it's already been exposed for illegally campaigning on behalf of republicans. But couldn't Burns at least pretend he's here to serve the people and not just the Bush Administration?

Either way, he hits the nail on the head when he acknowledges that the partisan political propagandists at the helm of the ONDCP will not be reinstated by the next administration. They have "one year left," indeed. They've bucked congressional oversight at every turn, forcing ONDCP creator Joe Biden to complain that the drug czar's office is operating "like an ivory tower."

Not even a petty formality like Burns's nomination itself could proceed without the wrath of congress being entered into the record. Here's what Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy had to say:

We will also hear from one nominee for a high-level position in the Executive Office of the President – Scott M. Burns to be Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. We consider his nomination on the heels of decisions by the Supreme Court and the U.S. Sentencing Commission that represent moderate but powerful steps to reform the unfair disparity that exists in Federal crack cocaine sentencing laws.

Yet, the Administration continues to be silent on any reform in this area. For more than 20 years, we have tolerated a Federal cocaine sentencing policy that treats crack offenders more harshly than cocaine offenders. This policy has unacceptably had a disparate impact on people of color and the poor – without any empirical justification. The Administration’s failure to support even the slightest modification of crack penalties is both a surprise and a deep disappointment.

Ironically, had there been more than "one year left," one wonders if Congress would have made more of an effort to disrupt ONDCP's power structure than to simply promote a long-time insider who shares responsibility for the perpetual controversy and incompetence that we've all come to expect from President Bush's drug war experts.