Word: ombudsman
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Part of his job as acting minister is counselling--formally, for freshman, and informally, for anyone who drops in. "I do take the ombudsman role on this one," Gomes said. "The church is another source of advice, relatively non-threatening and certainly non-clinical--both of which are in vogue...
...French have a genius for creating bureaucracy but not, it would seem, for attacking it. A case in point is the nation's first ombudsman, recently appointed by President Georges Pompidou. On paper, this officer has great freedom and latitude to "improve the relationship between citizens and government administrations." In fact, he will be so tangled in red tape that he will be virtually unable to function...
...mediateur, as the ombudsman is called, will be assisted by a dozen high-ranking civil servants, who are, of course, bureaucrats. Unlike the Swedes or Norwegians, who can complain directly to their ombudsmen, Frenchmen who feel mistreated by their government will find a wall of nearly 1,000 Deputies and Senators between them and their mediateur. These politicians will pass complaints to the ombudsman only if they consider them worthy of his attention. Not surprisingly, the arrangement does not please the politicians, one of whom grumped that the new post was "turning us into letter boxes...
Pompidou's choice of ombudsman has been greeted with hostility and hilarity. Out of retirement came 81-year-old former Premier Antoine Pinay, a cautious conservative who is remembered chiefly as the "savior of the franc" while serving as De Gaulle's Finance Minister. Critics charge that Pinay's appointment is purely political; he is honorary president of the Républicains Indépendants, the Gaullists' chief allies in government. "We would have taken him more seriously," remarked the satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaine, "if he had been five or six years older." Noting that...
...Faculty, however, did toss one bone to the reformers. The meeting unanimously approved a motion Paul introduced that called for an outside re-examination of the role of the Commission on Inquiry, which is supposed to act as an ombudsman for complaints brought by members of the community...