Liberal Bully of the Week: Former Secret Service chief Julia Pierson

Sometimes being too nice can make you a big bully. That is what helped this week’s recipient earn her honors.

Under her management, a once-great organization, filled with our country’s best men and women has fallen into the realm of a punch line.

What the heck happened to the Secret Service? It used to be one of the most respected law enforcement agencies. It had the sacred duty of protecting the president, who is always going to be at risk, no matter which party he hails from. The dedication of these agents is legendary.

Over the past few years, the Secret Service has gone through one scandal after another, mostly pertaining to bad behavior by individual agents - like the advance team in Colombia that wound up spending a good deal of time cavorting with prostitutes. After every one of these stories, some heads rolled, and there were promises of reform.

Now we’re looking at a scandal that cuts right to the heart of the mission everyone has in mind when they talk about the Secret Service: protecting the White House and the first family. The story of fence-jumper Omar Gonzalez keeps getting weirder, and more outrageous, every day. Congress held hearings on it, and what Director Julia Pierson told the House Oversight Committee was amazing.

“It is clear that our security plan was not executed properly. I take full responsibility. What happened is unacceptable and it will never happen again,” said Ms. Pierson.

You can say that again. The original statements from the Secret Service said Mr. Gonzalez jumped the fence and was tackled near the front door. That turned out to be “an early false report,” as House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa put it.

Not only did the Secret Service lie about how far Mr. Gonzalez had penetrated the White House, but it also misrepresented the incident to Senate Judiciary Committee staffers.

Ms. Pierson spent much of her high school years working at Walt Disney World as a Disney cast member. Earlier this year she told members of the Secret Service protecting the president at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, saying: “We need to be more like Disney World. We need to be more friendly, inviting.”

Don’t get me wrong, I love Disney World. However I’d much rather have a non-PC, highly trained, tough-as-nails enforcer in charge of protecting the president, than some chick who used to be “Pooh Bear” and got a B+ in moving the crowd through “The Haunted Mansion” on a blustery day.

Oh … take a guess at what the director tried blaming for the failures of her agency? Go on, guess. If you guessed “not enough funding,” you win. Ms. Pierson blamed the sequestration budget cuts for reducing their staff below “optimal level.”

So the Secret Service is just like the rest of the Obama administration now, lying about its failures, claiming it can’t do its job unless it gets more money. We heard the same story after the Benghazi consulate was attacked, and Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed.

Not enough money. Same thing with border security. Not enough money. Somehow this government is spending $3.5 trillion, but nobody has enough money to do their jobs.

It seems to me there are an awful lot of people drawing big salaries in the White House who don’t need to be there, if the Secret Service really needs more staff. There are crowned monarchs who can’t believe their eyes at the size of the entourage the Obamas bring with them when they go anywhere.

Congress should take this opportunity to put the budget for the Secret Service, and everything else related to White House operations, under a microscope. Every other federal agency is wasting gobs of money on silly things these days — they’re probably no different. Let’s see where all the existing money is going, and who approved all the expenses. It probably didn’t cost a lot to put a lock on the White House doors.

The most killer line of the week came from a Democrat, Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, who told Ms. Pierson, “I wish to God that you protected the White House like you’re protecting your reputation right now.” You could say that about a lot of this administration, couldn’t you?

There is some good news to this story. When the going got tough, Director Julia Pierson got going and tendered her resignation. The question is has the Secret Service slogged so long in incompetence until its leadership is unfixable?

So … for your lack of leadership, your rise through the ranks due to the “Peter Principle” and your general ineptitude in a job that requires great vision, clarity and chutzpah.

Former Secret Service Director Julia Pierson, you are the Liberal Bully Of The Week.