Mr. Clean and his dream team
What does it take to become a minister in the anti-corruption, reform cabinet of Petr Nečas? It doesn't hurt to be a political dinosaur, a qualification that half of the candidates meet. To become finance minister, you must be a product of the Five Families, electrostate and military-industrial complex, all at once. To become environment minister (Pavel Drobil), you need be a chainsaw eager to guard the virgin forest. Proponents of expensive, ineffectual military equipment (Saša Radar O'Vondra) are a must at the defense ministry. Four of the ministers (Martin Kocourek, Ivan Fuksa, Jaromír Drábek and Vondra) can boast of their ties to ČEZ. Protectors of judicial and scholastic mafias get to run the justice department. Frustrated doctors/dentists get first dibs on the healing of culture, education and healthcare. The interior and transport ministries must be manned by outsourcing specialists. No Czech cabinet is complete without an ex-Commie. And of course Mr. Clean is there to ride roughshod and to prove the skeptics wrong.
Glossary of difficult words
Mr. Clean - Petr Nečas's nickname, which he says he does not like;Five Families - (our term) J&T, KKCG, Penta, PPF, RPG;
electrostate - (our term) a country in which government and industrial policy is guided by the interests of the electricity industry;
ineffectual - not producing the desired effect;
to have first dibs on - to have the first right to something;
to man - to provide the personnel to run or operate something;
outsourcing - to obtain goods or services from an outside supplier;
to ride roughshod over - to carry out one's own plans or wishes with disregard for the wishes of others; to deal with something with brutal force.