Chapter 21 Chapter 19 Secretary promotion "hidden path"

Due to the non-standard promotion path, some secretaries who lack leadership ability or have "sickness" are promoted and reused, which has become a gray zone in the current organizational personnel system. Since he was assisted in the investigation in early September 2010, Xie Yalong went from "disappearing" to being taken compulsory measures. Finally, during the National Day holiday one month later, CCTV "News Network" broadcast the news that he was formally arrested. Xie Yalong, who was born on December 1, 1955, served as the director of the China Athletics Management Center, the vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, and the chairman of the China Sports Industry Company.When he was in charge of football, in addition to making money, he also made Chinese football complete from its peak to its decline. Among the many "miracles" he created, he refreshed the record of Chinese football in top events such as the World Cup and the Olympics. Worst and most shameful new record!

However, a person like Xie Yalong was promoted from the position of the former director secretary of the National Sports Commission to the "head" of Chinese football, which once again verified the "promotion path" of most secretaries-because he "leads the people around him" ", taking up all the power and resources, and having far more opportunities for promotion than others. "Due to the special relationship between the secretary and the leader, when the leader promotes a person, the main consideration is whether the promoted person is 'trustworthy'." Associate Professor Huang Xiaoyong from the Department of Political Science and Law of the Central Party School said in an interview with reporters, "If we start from this standard, the secretary often It's the number one choice."

In many parts of our country, the selection of secretaries is basically determined by the leaders' personal likes and dislikes, and after becoming a leadership secretary, the probability of being promoted again is extremely high.Due to the non-standard promotion path, some secretaries who lack leadership ability or have "sickness" are promoted and reused, which has become a gray zone in the current organizational personnel system. What is a secretary?According to the "Dictionary", the main duties are to assist leaders in comprehensive information, investigation and research, contact reception, handling documents and matters assigned by leaders. .

According to the strict regulations of the central government, only leading cadres above the vice-ministerial level are allowed to be assigned full-time secretaries.But in many places in our country, not only city and county leaders, but even township party committee secretaries and town mayors have de facto full-time secretaries.Having a full-time secretary became a badge of leadership for some. "Leaders from all over the country choose and match secretaries. There is no uniform selection and appointment standards for secretaries, and there is also a lack of strict procedures such as democratic recommendation, democratic appraisal and comprehensive inspection." Huang Xiaoyong said, "Many leaders choose their own secretaries without approval, or the procedures go through Due to the form, the organization and personnel department only performs a formality."

The reporter learned that when a leader is equipped with a secretary, it is basically up to the leader to decide who to use.For example, when Li Zhen served as the Secretary of the General Office of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee, he was "hand-picked" by Cheng Weigao, then Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, and so on. At present, some secretaries tend to be alienated. They are not only responsible for routine tasks such as the leader’s schedule, visitor reception, and drafting of speeches, but also take care of the life arrangements of the leader or the leader’s family members. Things are also handed over to the secretary.

"Although the secretary does not hold a real position, he has considerable hidden power." A person familiar with the officialdom in Yunnan Province told reporters, "Of course, the 'gold content' of secretaries at different levels and departmental or local leaders is not the same. And the higher the level The secretary of the leader who is taller and the position is more important has more opportunities for promotion." "After becoming a leader's secretary, the biggest feeling is that there are many opportunities for training and rapid improvement in level. For example, I follow the leader for more investigations, and I am more familiar with various aspects; I read a lot of various documents and understand the spirit of the superior; He has a relatively accurate grasp of work ideas, and so on." Xiao Zhang graduated from university in 2008 and joined a certain organization in Beijing as a leadership secretary. He is full of confidence in his future.

"Being selected as a leading secretary is a manifestation of ability. If you do well, and you have network resources and power resources, your chances of promotion will be much greater than other civil servants. "Xiao Zhang's remarks represent the thoughts of a considerable number of young civil servants. In reality, most of the leading secretaries are "promoted to a higher level", but they do not need to go through the procedures of open selection and competition; it does not belong to "extraordinary promotion".As a senior secretary "outside", it is more common to be "promoted to a higher level", and many of them belong to cross-departmental or remote positions, which also avoids the procedures and supervision of many cadre selection and appointment.Therefore, the position of leading secretary is regarded by many people as a "shortcut to promotion".

Many interviewed experts believe that it is easy to get promoted from the position of secretary. In addition to the special relationship between the leader and the secretary, the main reason is that the "top leader" has too much power and cannot be effectively restrained. "From a personal point of view, the secretary works hard to serve the leader. 'There is hard work without credit'. If there is a chance for promotion, the leader will naturally think of the secretary." Huang Xiaoyong believes, "The leader regards the promotion of the secretary as a kind of service to himself. Rewards are already an open secret."

Huang Xiaoyong believes that the advantages of secretaries in promotion also stem from the power arrangement of our country's cadre personnel system. "On the one hand, leaders, especially main leaders, have important nomination and recommendation rights in personnel affairs, and even have varying degrees of personnel decision-making power. In the nomination and recommendation process, the secretary has an advantage. On the other hand, the existing personnel system arrangements Among them, the regulations on the right to nominate and the right to recommend are not standardized enough, which leads to a considerable degree of freedom for leaders to nominate whom.”

"It is easy for a secretary to be promoted, which is closely related to the characteristics of the secretary's position. The secretary generally belongs to the general office or the establishment of the office. This comprehensive office is the hub of administrative operations and the gathering point for administrative information. The object of the secretary's service is the leader. In the context of the centralization of power in our country, leaders are often the center of power and decision-making.” Dr. Hu Xianzhi, a researcher at the National School of Administration and deputy secretary-general of the National Policy Science Research Association, was interviewed by reporters and analyzed it from the perspective of administrative organization.

Hu Xianzhi further analyzed: "Compared with civil servants in other positions, the secretary occupies an advantageous location. Coupled with the advantages of 'harmony' formed by the special relationship with the leader, the secretary is a position that is extremely easy to get promoted. .The advantage of the location plus the harmony of the people, if the weather is added, it is not difficult for the secretary to be promoted." "Before some leading cadres leave office, they also want to install 'trustworthy' people in some important departments so that their power or influence can continue. The secretary is often an option." A young civil servant of an agency directly under the Beijing Municipal Government told reporters "Of course, there is also a situation where the secretary knows too much about the leader, and some tricky leading cadres also use the promotion of the secretary as a way to win over and achieve the purpose of self-protection." "The deeper reason why secretaries are easy to get promoted is that the 'top leaders' have too much power and cannot be effectively restrained. In some places, although the organization department checks and appoints people in name, it is just a formality." Li Chengyan, School of Government Administration, Peking University In an interview with the reporter, the professor said, "If the leader chooses or promotes his secretary, the organization department will ultimately have to deal with it according to the leader's face." "Most leaders like to promote secretaries before they leave office." Lin, a professor at the Central Party School, believes that this is a "hidden rule" in my country's employment system, and it is the most problematic link.At the same time, it is also a "hidden rule" that the promotion of the secretary is "airborne" without going through the selection procedures of the unit or department where he will work. According to the interviewed experts, after years of training and training, some secretaries do have leadership skills, and it is understandable to be promoted normally.However, due to the above-mentioned unsound selection and appointment mechanism, some secretaries who lack leadership qualities or have "sickness" are promoted and reused, causing extremely bad social impact. The most typical case is "Shanghai No. 1 Secret" Qin Yu. On July 6, 2006, Qin Yu was "airborne" and transferred to the deputy secretary of the Shanghai Baoshan District Committee. On July 13, he was appointed as the acting mayor of Baoshan District. On July 25, he officially became the mayor of Baoshan District. Going to the post of mayor of Baoshan District, Qin Yu served as district mayor for exactly one month, and was called "one-month district mayor" by public opinion. According to the investigation, from April 1998 to June 2006, when Qin Yu served as Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Office, Shanghai Municipal People's Government General Office, and Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Deputy Director, he used his position to seek benefits for others and asked for money. The bribes were equivalent to more than 6.8 million yuan. As the secretary of the city leadership, Qin Yu accepted so many bribes that he could not be investigated and stopped for ten years, and he was able to get promoted all the way with his "sickness".This former "Shanghai's No. 1 Secretary", his promotion path with "sickness" is just the epitome of the disadvantages of the past secretary promotion path—— In the second half of 2005, the leaders of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection had a conversation with Chen Liangyu, the then secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, pointing out that many officials in Shanghai reported that Qin Yu had problems with his clean government, and asked him to choose those officials with strong party spirit and decent style as his secretary, but Chen Liangyu ignored them. . On July 26, 2007, the person in charge of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection responded to reporters' questions regarding the investigation and handling of Chen Liangyu's serious violation of discipline. Another typical case is "Hebei First Secretary" Li Zhen.When Li Zhen was promoted as deputy director of the General Office of the Provincial Party Committee, more than one member of the Standing Committee clearly expressed his opposition.But Cheng Weigao, the secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee at the time, insisted on promoting Li Zhen.When the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection forwarded letters from the masses reporting Li Chen's serious problems, Cheng Weigao not only did not investigate, but was very angry. He believed that the people who reported the problems deliberately made things difficult for him, and wrote letters to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection twice, vowing to vouch for Li Chen There is no problem. According to previous case studies, some leaders have regarded their secretaries as their tools and "slaves". In fact, their relationship is not as simple as a work relationship, but a "master-slave" relationship in which everything is damaged and everything is prosperous. It has even become a corrupt community that works in collusion and collusion—in some of the corruption cases of leading cadres disclosed, many dirty activities of the secretary were "pulled out the carrot and brought out the mud". "After a few years as a leading secretary, the rapid promotion should be curbed." In 2007, Yang Zilin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, suggested that relevant regulations should be introduced to limit the rapid promotion of leading secretaries. Wang Yukai, secretary-general of the China Administrative System Reform Research Association and professor of the National School of Administration, believes that the promotion, appointment and removal of leading cadres and secretaries is a special issue that has attracted the attention of relevant parties. "The probability of being promoted to a secretary is very high. Many people can become leaders after becoming a secretary, but practice has proved that those who are promoted from a secretary to a leader may not be able to do so. This is the issue of strengthening the starting line norms." Information from high-level officials shows that the central government has realized the seriousness of the issue of the promotion of leading secretaries, and at the same time has issued some relevant regulations one after another, adding a "curse" to arbitrary leaders. On March 7, 2010, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China promulgated and implemented the "Accountability Measures for the Selection and Appointment of Party and Government Leading Cadres (Trial Implementation)", pointing out that in the selection and appointment of party and government leading cadres, if one of the eight situations occurs, the Hold relevant leading cadres and personnel accountable.It specifically mentions "requiring the promotion of close relatives of oneself, or ordering the promotion of secretaries and other staff around you." At the same time, the document also emphasizes that for those who "violate the regulations on cadre selection and appointment, resulting in negligence in the employment of personnel and causing adverse effects", the main leading cadres of the party committee (party group) or related leading cadres will be held accountable. On March 31, 2010, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Measures for Reporting Matters Related to the Selection and Appointment of Party and Government Leading Cadres (Trial Implementation)" which stipulated: The opinion of the higher-level organization (personnel) department should be consulted before." Many interviewed experts pointed out that the above-mentioned regulations are very timely and important for improving the secretary selection process and strengthening the supervision of the secretary selection work.To a certain extent, these regulations will restrain the promotion of secretaries without the authority of leaders, but because the content of the regulations is not specific enough, it is relatively difficult to operate. "The accountability of leaders for 'employment negligence and mistakes' is only a remedy for a dead sheep, and it cannot fundamentally solve the problem." Hu Lei, a lawyer from Beijing Bangsheng Law Firm, told reporters, "The key is to start from the source. Check it out." "The method of asking the higher-level organization (personnel) department to review can restrain the hands and feet of leading cadres to a certain extent, but due to information asymmetry and lack of operability, the effect will not be good." Li Chengyan said, "Because the leadership There are many ways to circumvent the scrutiny of higher-ups." "Even if a leader promotes a secretary, even if the superior organization (personnel) department reviews it, the superior department does not understand the following situation, and does not know whether the secretary has the corresponding moral ability." Li Chengyan believes, "What's more, the leader often deals with the superior department. The higher-ups will generally agree to the request.” Many interviewed experts believe that to standardize the selection and appointment of secretaries, the most urgent task is to establish and improve various standardized management systems such as leadership research, meetings, speeches, and living arrangements, and severely punish leading cadres for illegally assigning secretaries, especially focusing on solving problems at the city and county levels. Leading cadres are equipped with too many secretaries. At the same time, the access "threshold" of leading secretaries should be set well. "The selection and appointment of secretaries requires not only seeking opinions from superiors, but also public opinions. Because the public will dig deep into the published information and really find out whether the secretary to be promoted has leadership qualities." Huang Xiaoyong believes. "In addition to using information disclosure to create pressure for public supervision, we also need to focus on system construction." Huang Xiaoyong pointed out, "In particular, it is necessary to rationally allocate personnel power, and consider the appropriate separation of nomination rights (or recommendation rights) from inspection and evaluation rights and decision-making rights. Nominators (recommendators) do not participate in the investigation, evaluation and decision-making process, decision makers do not participate in the nomination and inspection process, investigators do not participate in the nomination recommendation and decision process, so that personnel appointment and removal can be carried out in a fair and just environment, minimizing Unhealthy tendencies in employing people." Huang Xiaoyong believes that secretarial work experience should be taken as one of the qualification conditions for the selection and appointment of cadres, and the practice of total negation should be avoided.Hu Xianzhi also reminded: "You can't get priority promotion because of being a secretary, and you can't be discriminated against because of being a secretary, and you can't be promoted. Both situations are unfair." "If the secretary is placed on the same platform as other candidates, linked to the specific post, and let the public recommend and comment publicly, instead of letting a leader evaluate and select alone." Hu Xianzhi pointed out, "Then This kind of selection that removes the influence of personal factors of leaders, not because it is the promotion of secretary status, in a sense, it is more fair and convincing.” Relevant interviewed experts believe that intensifying the investigation of personnel mistakes can also minimize the failure of personnel supervision. "For the current problems in the promotion of secretaries, a special system must be introduced to solve them." Hu Xianzhi suggested, "It is necessary to further improve the responsibility system for the recommendation of secretaries. During the promotion process of the organization, the avoidance system should be implemented. The names of the investigation team members, discipline inspection and procuratorial organs and other relevant personnel must be recorded in detail to provide a basis for the investigation and accountability of personnel mistakes." "In terms of secretary promotion, it is necessary to stop the long-standing unspoken rules in the employment system of promoting secretaries before leaders leave office, and strictly implement the 'accountability system' for leading cadres to neglect supervision." Li Chengyan said, "If it is true after investigation, Pursuant to the relevant regulations, they will be held accountable and given corresponding organizational or disciplinary sanctions. For the secretary who is going to be promoted, his qualification for promotion must be canceled first, and then further processing will be carried out depending on the situation." In addition, some interviewed experts suggested that a qualification system for secretaries can be established and actively explore ways to professionalize secretaries.That is to say, the state shall designate corresponding institutions to be responsible, formulate unified assessment standards, and pass the pre-employment qualification assessment and post-employment regular assessment to ensure the high quality and high ability of secretarial talents and lay the foundation for the professionalization of secretaries. "Secretaries can be separated from the civil servants and become a separate professional system. Through secretary legislative activities, the secretary's employment system can be formulated in the form of laws and regulations to determine the secretary's qualifications, employment system, promotion system, salary and benefits. Remuneration, etc." Hu Lei believes, "In formulating the secretary's promotion system, we can learn from the relevant promotion system of doctors or teachers, divide the secretary into corresponding levels, and work for a certain period of time and meet certain conditions. , can be promoted to a secretary at the next level, and his salary and benefits are linked to the level to increase the secretary's enthusiasm."