"A bureaucrat is a politician with tenure” is a saying that has appeared on Internet lists since at least 1996. The saying is not entirely true, of course; many tenured bureaucrats are politically appointed and are not elected politicians.


Redneck’s Guide to Greek and Latin
A Collection of Erudite Words & Phrases That can be Worked Into The Conservation At The Local Bucket Of Blood On Any Saturday Night
by
RICHARD E. IRBY, JR.
(...)
Bureaucrat
a politician with tenure

Google Groups: soc.history.medieval
Newsgroups: soc.history.medieval
From:
Date: 1996/02/06
Subject: Any hagiographers out there?

A bureaucrat is a politician with tenure

The University of Georgia
Date:  Wed, 24 Oct 2001 16:56:35 +0200
Reply-To: 
Sender:  CICS List
From:  Volker Bandke
Subject:  AW: CEMT P SHUT I and data Rollback
In-Reply-To: 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

A bureaucrat is a politician with tenure.
(Another Wisdom from my fortune cookie jar)

Tan Lucy Pez
Friday, November 04, 2005
Stolen property
(...)
A bureaucrat is a politician with tenure.

Quips and Quotes
Last updated 11/21/2011
(...)
A bureaucrat is a politician with tenure.