“Your doing a good job Brownie.” Those are the words spoken by President Bush to the soon after to be doomed FEMA Director Michael Brown. Democrats including Barack Obama chastised the Administration for appointing cronies to government positions. Obama promised to appoint professionals based on merit. As we can see this was just another lie.

USA Today:

WASHINGTON — More than 40% of President Obama’s top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama’s campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been named to government positions, the analysis found.

Overall, about 600 individuals and couples raised money from their friends, family members and business associates to help fund Obama’s presidential campaign. USA TODAY’s analysis found that 54 have been named to government positions, ranging from Cabinet and White House posts to advisory roles, such as serving on the economic recovery board charged with helping guide the country out of recession.

Nearly a year after he was elected on a pledge to change business-as-usual in Washington, Obama also has taken a cue from his predecessors and appointed fundraisers to coveted ambassadorships, drawing protests from groups representing career diplomats. A separate analysis by the American Foreign Service Association, the diplomats’ union, found that more than half of the ambassadors named by Obama so far are political appointees, said Susan Johnson, president of the association. An appointment is considered political if it does not go to a career diplomat in the State Department.

That’s a rate higher than any president in more than four decades, the group’s data show, although that could change as the White House fills more openings. Traditionally about 30% of top diplomatic jobs go to political appointees, and roughly 70% to veteran State Department employees. Ambassadors earn $153,200 to $162,900 annually.

The list of donors who got jobs:

RAISED MORE THAN $500,0000

Nicole Avant     Ambassador to the Bahamas

Matthew Barzun     Ambassador to Sweden

Don Beyer     Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein

Jeff Bleich     Ambassador to Australia**

Richard Danzig     Member, Defense Policy Board

William Eacho     Ambassador to Austria

Julius Genachowski     Chairman of Federal Communications Commission

Donald Gips     Ambassador to South Africa

Howard Gutman     Ambassador to Belgium

Scott Harris     General Counsel, Department of Energy

William Kennard     Ambassador to the European Union**

Bruce Oreck     Ambassador to Finland

Spencer Overton     Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Thomas Perrelli     Associate Attorney General

Abigail Pollack     Member, Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino

Charles Rivkin     Ambassador to France and Monaco

John Roos     Ambassador of Japan

Francisco Sanchez     Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade

Alan Solomont     Ambassador to Spain and Andorra**

Cynthia Stroum    Ambassador to Luxembourg**

RAISED BETWEEN $200,000 and $500,000

A. Marisa Chun     Deputy associate attorney general

Gregory Craig     White House counsel

Norman Eisen     Special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform

Michael Froman     Deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs

Mark Gallogly     Member, Economic Recovery Advisory Board

Max Holtzman     Senior adviser to the Agriculture secretary

James Hudson     Director, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Jeh Johnson     General counsel, Department of Defense

Samuel Kaplan     Ambassador to Morocco

Nicole Lamb-Hale     Deputy general counsel, Commerce Department

Andres Lopez     Member, Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino

Cindy Moelis     Director, Commission on White House Fellows

William Orrick     Counselor to the assistant attorney general

John Phillips    Chairman, Commission on White House Fellows

Penny Pritzker***    Member, Economic Recovery Advisory Board

Bob Rivkin     General counsel, Transportation Department

Desiree Rogers     White House social secretary

Louis Susman     Ambassador to the United Kingdom

Robert Sussman     Senior policy counsel, Environmental Protection Agency

Christina Tchen     Director, White House Office of Public Engagement

Barry White     Ambassador to Norway

RAISED BETWEEN $100,000 and $200,000

Preeta Bansal     General counsel, Office of Management and Budget

Laurie Fulton     Ambassador to Denmark

Fred Hochberg     President, Export-Import Bank of the United States

Valerie Jarrett     Senior adviser to the president

Kevin Jennings     Assistant deputy secretary of Education

Steven Rattner     Treasury Department adviser

Miriam Sapiro     Deputy U.S. trade representative**

Vinai Thummalapally     Ambassador to Belize

RAISED BETWEEN $50,000 and $100,000

Eric Holder     Attorney general

David Jacobson     Ambassador to Canada

Ronald Kirk     U.S. trade representative

Rocco Landesman     Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts

Susan Rice     Ambassador to the United Nations

** Nominated, not yet confirmed by Senate

*** National finance chairwoman

Sources: Obama campaign, Public Citizen; White House; USA TODAY research