PolitiQuips
Washington has lost one of its favorite funnymen.
Dr. James H. Boren, better known as Jim Boren, died April 24 in Tahlequah, Okla. He was 84 and had been in failing health.
Although his career spanned education, politics and government, Boren's claim to worldwide fame was achieved as a humorist, speaker and author dedicated to reforming bureaucracy -- which he defined as "the epoxy that greases the wheels of government."
He was the founder of the National Association of Professional Bureaucrats (NATAPROBU) and coined the slogan: "When in charge, ponder. When in trouble, delegate. When in doubt, mumble." As Boren explained, the organization sought "to give recognition to the articulate fingertappers of the world who, by their steadfast dedication to the principles of dynamic inactivism, have kept things from happening and thereby prevented mistakes from being made."
Boren launched his crusade as a reformer after serving as campaign manager and later chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Ralph Yarborough, D-Texas. After engaging in the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy, he was apponted in 1961 as the deputy director of the U.S. Economic Mission to Peru. He conceived the Partners of the Alliance, which brought together private sectors of the U.S. and Latin America in a grass-roots people-oriented program.
As a political satirist, Boren became a popular speaker and traveled widely giving tongue-in-cheek lectures and distributing NATAPROBU pencils with erasers on both ends. A talented artist, he created the "Order of the Bird", a potbellied bird sculpture which he awarded to various government and private agencies and individuals.
One of these awards went to the U.S. Postal Service after Boren orchestrated a widely-publicized modern-day Pony Express to carry a bag full of letters from Philaelphia to Washington in 1972, demonstrating that horseback riders could deliver the mail in less time than the giant agency.
For years he maintained a presence in Washington, sharing an office with John Cosgrove, a fellow veteran of World War II who served with him on the USS William C. Cole destroyer escort in several Pacific battles.
When he ran a spoof campaign for president in 1991, his slogan was, "I've got what it takes to take what you've got." One of his promises was to "cut red tape -- lengthwise." He also made serious runs for Congress in Virginia and Oklahoma. He was a cousin of David Boren, a former governor and U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, who now is president of the University of Oklahoma.
Boren was the author of seven books, including "When in Doubt, Mumble", "Fuzzify!" and "How to Be a Sincere Phony: A Handbook for Politicians and Bureaucrats."
Returning to his home state of Oklahoma, he became a scholar-in-residence in 1991 at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. After he retired from teaching, Boren and his wife, Norma, moved to Whitesboro, Texas.
Boren was a luncheon speaker as a member of the faculty of the 2007 Will Rogers Writers' Workshop in Oklahoma City.
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