The patronage shuffle

"Jenni Byrne, currently director of political operations for the Conservative Party, is moving to the PMO to become a deputy chief of staff to Mr. Harper," read an article in today's The Herald.  It's shuffle time on the decks of the Titanic, as it faces defeat by young turk Trudeau.

I have never understood why a PM needs a "director of political operations"?  Isn't that the leader's job?  Byrne was previously "director of issues management".  Doesn't Harper "manage issues"?  Seems to me he micro-manages everything.  Other bizarre posts? 

• Director of strategic planning
• Senior adviser to the PM's chief of staff -- the chief of staff himself needs a "senior advisor"?
• Director of strategic communications -- as opposed to "un-strategic"?
• Deputy chief of staff...............

Clearly, these are make-work posts given to Conservative insiders, who will eventually slide into the federal public service as priority candidates, settle comfortably into big salaries and eventually collect big pensions.

When I was working in the federal public service, I used to wonder why an ADM needed a "policy advisor"?  Shouldn't someone who has reached the rank of ADM be able to figure out his or her own policies based on what the Minister and Deputy Minister hand down?  Who needs an ADM if they have to take notes at the knee of a "policy advisor"?

I used to write a ton of policy documents, issue papers and cabinet documents -- even though I was middlin' in the organization.  These were then presented with great fanfare as brilliant tomes up the line, my never getting credit.  Not that I minded, I was being well-paid.  But there were a lot of men and women senior to me who took a lot of baton-credit for things they had neither thought up, nor written.   

Never got it.