From The New Republic:
…while cronies populate every presidency, no administration has etched the principles of hackocracy into its governing philosophy as deeply as this one. If there’s an underappreciated corner of the bureaucracy to fill, it has found just the crony (or college roommate of a crony), party operative (or cousin of a party operative) to fill it. To honor this achievement, we’ve drawn up a list of the 15 biggest Bush administration hacks–from the highest levels of government to the civil servant rank and file. The tnr 15 is a diverse group–from the assistant secretary of commerce who started his career by supplying Bush with Altoids to the Republican National Committee chair-turned-Veterans Affairs secretary who forgot about wounded Iraq war vets–but they all share two things: responsibility and inexperience…
15: Israel Hernandez
Assistant Secretary for Trade Promotion and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, Department of Commerce (confirmation pending)Fresh out of college and seeking a job on George W. Bush’s 1994 Texas gubernatorial campaign, Israel Hernandez showed up an hour early for his interview with the candidate. Impressed by his punctuality, Bush hired Hernandez within days and eventually invited him to live with the Bush family in their Dallas home, where Hernandez reportedly became like an older brother to Jenna and Barbara Bush. Serving as Bush’s travel aide for the next few years, “He was always there with the Altoids, the speech box, the schedule, whatever I needed,” Bush later wrote in his autobiography…
More here.