An independent federal agency, the Advisory Council on Historical Preservation (ACHP) promotes the preservation, enhancement, and sustainable use of our nation’s diverse historic resources and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy. It also provides a forum for influencing federal activities, programs, and policies that affect historic properties. The ACHP promotes historic preservation to foster the understanding of the nation’s heritage and the contribution that historic preservation can make to contemporary communities and their economic and social well-being.

There are 630 federal departments, agencies, and commissions.  Approximately 400 have regulatory power. Half could be eliminated and most of the nation wouldn’t notice. The loss of liberty in the United States is proportional to the size and scope of the federal government. The larger the federal government gets; the fewer the rights the states, and the people, retain.

~ Ed Haas

For fiscal year (FY) 2025, the ACHP requested funding comparable to the President’s Budget for FY 2024 ($9,494,000). How does an advisory council spend $9.5 million? That’s a whole lot of money to “promote”, “foster”, and “advise”.

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is an independent federal agency comprised of 24 statutorily designated members from federal agencies, preservation organizations, Indian tribes, and expert private citizens. It has a staff of 42 employees based in Washington, D.C. who carry out historic preservation case reviews, provide training in historic preservation law and policy, conduct outreach to the American public on the importance of historic sites and community preservation, and much more.

Who are these 42 employees? How did they get a position with the ACHP? How many are related to or associated with some well connected or elected individual who helped them get the job? Washington DC is filled with people who gained their cushy government job because of a payback or favor for someone else. This sort of thing happens in the private sector too. It just doesn’t smell as bad. Remember, the ACHP is an advisory council. The bulk of the annual budget is for employee salaries. The annual salary expense for FY 2025 is budgeted at $7,116,000. The U.S. taxpayer is taking care of these 42 employees very well.

It’s comforting to know the ACHP has created an Equity Officer position. The salary is $132,368 – $172,075 a year. I wonder if they filled the position yet. You can even work from home!

According to the help wanted ad found on simplyhired.com, the major duties of the ACHP Equity Officer include, but are not limited to the following:

Providing expert advice and assistance regarding:

a) ACHP consideration of equity issues, including environmental justice issues, in its work to promote historic preservation, particularly in non-tribal underserved communities; and

b) diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the ACHP workplace.

Providing expert advice on equity and environmental justice matters, recommending and assisting with the establishment of new initiatives to better ensure the preservation of historic properties of significance to underserved communities.

Assisting in the creation, marketing, and teaching of courses to non-tribal, underserved communities about the Section 106 historic preservation review process, in coordination with the Office of Federal Agency Programs (OFAP).

Providing input to the Office of Native American Affairs (ONAA), as requested, on equity and environmental justice issues in the context of historic preservation issues concerning Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.

Monitoring, analyzing, and evaluating proposed federal legislation, regulations, guidelines, and policies related to equity and environmental justice and developing recommendations on opportunities for the ACHP to advocate for a more meaningful role for underserved communities in preserving historic properties.

The ACHP has determined that the duties of this position are telework eligible. Telework arrangements are subject to ACHP policy.

Just imagine a day in the life of the Advisory Council on Historical Preservation Equity Officer. Will he or she ever have a stressful day at work?  What is typical of these federal government agencies is they always find a way to do less and less with more and more. With the WEF push for DEI globally to control governments and corporations, the “Equity Officer” occupation has been created. It’s progressivism at its worst because conceals sinister intentions with soft, fuzzy feelings.

So, what types of professions make up the ACHP payroll? Lawyers. Public Affairs Managers. Administrators. IT Specialists. Department Directors. Program Analysts. Historical Preservation Specialists. Liaison personnel, and more. Are they all necessary? If our lives depended on it, could we cut the budget and payroll in half, ask the remaining staff to work faster, and still “promote”, “foster”, and “advise” regarding how to best preserve our nation’s historical sites? Fiscally conservative nationalists already know the answer is “absolutely”. For the democratic socialists who dared to read this far, I know it’s hard for you to imagine. Work harder. Work faster. Work smarter. Work. Saying such things to the fragile liberal is disrespecting the disrespectful person who cares more about themselves then their country. Personal sacrifice never comes before self-gratification in the liberal mind.  

A real-life example of what the ACHP does, as well as how cumbersome the federal government has become, how it gets in its own way at the expense of the American taxpayer, is the terrible fires that occurred when central Lahaina in Hawaii burned last August. In a Newsweek opinion piece by chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Sara C. Bronin, titled Lahaina’s History Must Be Central to Rebuilding After the Fire , Bronin writes:

The federal government must do what it can to support the restoration and reconstruction of sites lost. The Advisory Council, for one, has moved to implement our recent Policy Statement on Indigenous Knowledge and Historic Preservation, which specifically calls for the recognition of the profound insights provided by the body of information and beliefs held by Indigenous Peoples, including Native Hawaiians, in the regulatory review process we oversee.

In accordance with that statement, I have proposed an exemption from our process for any site restoration activities led or managed by Native Hawaiian organizations. That means that the restoration or reconstruction of the fishponds, waterways, taro patch, buildings, and sacred sites associated with Native Hawaiian history can happen without delay or added cost. Consultation with Native Hawaiians and public engagement on the proposal is underway, and I’m hopeful that the exemption will be approved promptly.

Think about what Bronin is saying by proposing an “exemption from our process”. She indicates her proposed exemption will eliminate delay and / or added cost. Arguably, if the normal process of the ACHP adds delay and costs, something is terribly wrong with the “normal process”. But never forget, it is the complication of the normal process that justifies the annual budgets. It’s how departments, agencies, bureau’s, councils, etc. justify truly unnecessary costs at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer and the nation.

Our national debt is $34.9 trillion. We must cut costs. Unpopular and difficult decisions must be made. (8 of 630 in this series)

~ Ed Haas