Fisking Tracey Barnett

Tracey Barnett in her ODT column (also carried earlier in the Herald) says:

And of course, there was the comfort in knowing that a gobsmacking 98% of Bush appointees were regulating the very same industries they used to represent as lobbyists.

That seemed massively high to me. Just from my knowledge of the Cabinet that seemed wrong. So I went to Harper’s Index, which Tracey was quoting:

Minimum number of Bush appointees who have regulated industries they used to represent as lobbyists: 98

Anyone else see the difference? One is a percentage and one is an absolute number.

The total number of presidential appointees is 3,000 so 98/3,000 is a less impressive 3%.