‘A goodbye boondoggle’

Regardless of who wins Tuesday's election, there will be a new president in the White House come January -- one who promises, "Change is coming."

That means most current senior Bush administration officials -- including those over at the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife -- are presumably out networking in search of new career opportunities, many of which will involve filing private lawsuits to keep Americans from building roads, hospitals, that kind of thing.

Other than that, the last two months of these Bush officials' tenure -- leaving aside a little time with family around the holidays -- will probably be spent organizing the files and leaving lengthy memos for the new tenants, explaining where everything is. Right?

Ha. Oh, ha ha. Good one.

In fact, immediately following election day, when no one will any longer be concerned about its "looking bad," 28 -- yes, 28 -- senior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials will be winging their way to sunny Mexico for a week of post-election R and R, starting with a visit to Chiapas, where they will share a trip to the Institute of Natural History and Ecology, various presentations, discussions and tours.

"Visit the new-born jaguar and quetzal," a beautiful plumed bird sacred to both the Aztec and the Maya, the group's itinerary says, according to The Washington Post. Then receptions and dinner, all courtesy of the U.S. embassy and/or their charming hosts, the ever frugal Mexican government.

Next day comes the four-hour drive to the fabulous Mayan pyramid tomb and other ruins at Palenque in the lush Lacandon rain forest, followed by a two-day "optional extension" to Michoacan to see the spectacular monarch butterflies, millions of which migrate there from points north to spend a balmy winter -- so many that it's said you can actually hear the faint hum of their wings as you approach their mountain sanctuary, The Post notes.

Fifteen members of the American delegation -- including Assistant Interior Secretary Lyle Laverty and the wildlife agency's director, Dale Hall -- have opted to "extend" and go see the butterflies.

In between, there will be a few hours of morning meetings with the officials' Mexican opposite numbers, back at the hotel.

Now, some may wonder precisely how taxpayers will benefit from any archaeological or zoological expertise garnered on this trip by Mr. Hall -- who's retiring Jan. 3 -- or by Mr. Laverty, who will presumably be moving on after Jan. 20.

But that's a very short-sighted view.

Suppose some emergency should crop up in Washington, at any time between Thanksgiving and Jan. 20, involving migratory monarchs, new-born jaguars or beautiful plumed birds of the species Pharomachrus mocinno?

Who you gonna call then, eh, smart aleck?

Or maybe not.

"This is a goodbye boondoggle if I ever saw one," Jamie Clark, former director of the agency in the Clinton administration, told The Post after going over the itinerary. "The entire leadership will be gone during the transition."

Consistent with our ongoing recommendation about what should be done with this entire agency, we're willing to bet they will not be missed.