This demonstration of USA politics...
...shows why allowing senior positions to be filled by appointment might not the best idea in the world.
Nepotism is bad enough, but from the outside (not based in Americas) these two appointments and the subsequent "works" look like deliberate sabotage - Pai seems to be working against the remit of his organisation? Certainly as his predecessors saw it!
But then I'd suggest that the whole "Presidential appointments..." routine/circus needs an overhaul!