I was never in my life nervous...

before I sat down at the table next to the Commissioner of the Department of Human Resources and a bunch of other politically appointed bureaucrats I didn't know (prior to that time).

I wasn't nervous until I suddenly realized how Gary Redding, then Deputy Commissioner of DCH, very adeptly distorted everything I had said beyond anything I could recognize. I like Gary Redding. Unlike many in public service, he's really quite talented.

But talented at what?

The truth is just another tool to political appointees -- as useful as pliers when you need them, and just as useless when a philips-head screw requires extraction.

I loved working in state government. Being in charge there is not for the timid.

While I came to like and respect Gary and many of the others at the table that day, only a few politically motivated bureaucrats ever gained my trust. (Kate and Tom, among them.) Most state employees are lifers -- with all that comes with such a committment. Many are gifted. A few climb, if only briefly, well beyond their ("her") greatly limited talent.

I hope Gary's still in charge of something substantial and worthy of his enormous talent.

I hope those who work with him
       know enough
           to
       be
nervous.