Preznit Pinhead Strikes...Again

From Capitol Hill Blue

Bush Leagues
Bush circumvents Senate with Pentagon appointments
By Staff and Wire Reports
Jan 5, 2006, 04:30



President Bush on Wednesday bypassed the Senate to install former Navy Secretary Gordon R. England as deputy secretary of defense, and used a similar maneuver to name a new Pentagon spokesman, campaign finance regulators and Amtrak directors.

In a highly unusual arrangement, England had been serving as both Navy secretary and acting deputy defense secretary since Paul Wolfowitz left the No. 2 Pentagon post last May to become head of the World Bank. England's nomination for the deputy secretary position had stalled in the Senate.

Under the Constitution, the president may circumvent the confirmation process by making appointments while the Senate is in recess. Such recess appointments usually expire at the end of next congressional session.

Since the Senate held a pro forma session Tuesday and then adjourned, the White House contends the second session of the 109th Congress has begun and Bush's recess appointments are valid until the following session concludes at the end of 2007.

Bush also used this maneuver Wednesday to name Dorrance Smith, a former ABC News producer, as assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. That job has gone unfilled since Victoria Clarke quit the post in June 2003. Lawrence Di Rita, an aide close to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, was the interim spokesman.

Bush had nominated England to be Rumsfeld's top deputy last April. Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Trent Lott, R-Miss., had placed holds on the appointment, preventing the Senate from considering it. At issue were shipbuilding concerns and conflict-of-interest questions surrounding pensions England holds from defense companies.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., had held up Smith's nomination in a dispute over a newspaper opinion article in which he accused U.S. television networks of helping terrorists through their partnerships with Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera.

England resigned as Navy secretary on Dec. 29.

Bush indicated several weeks ago that he would use a recess appointment to install England as deputy secretary of defense. He used that maneuver to fill a number of senior Pentagon posts in 2005, including Eric Edelman as undersecretary of defense for policy.

Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, England was an executive at General Dynamics Corp.

At the Federal Election Commission, Bush appointed Hans von Spakovsky, a Justice Department lawyer who formerly was Republican Party chairman in Fulton County, Ga.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said von Spakovsky had worked toward requiring Georgia voters to have a photo identification _ a requirement that critics said would harm black voters.

The president also appointed Robert Lenhard, who was part of a legal team that challenged the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, and Steven Walther, a lawyer with ties to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Kennedy also contended that von Spakovsky was involved in a decision that rejected a recommendation of career Justice Department lawyers in a Texas redistricting case.

Those lawyers had concluded that the redistricting plan violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it eliminated several districts where minorities had substantial voting power and illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power.

The FEC, an independent agency, has six commissioners who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. By law, no more than three commissioners can be members of the same political party.

Two members of Amtrak's board won reappointment.

Floyd Hall, a former Kmart Corp. chief executive, and Enrique Sosa, a former BP Amoco Chemicals president, will remain on the board through most of 2007. Hall and Sosa were appointed in 2004 by Bush after the Senate failed to confirm them to five-year terms.

Amtrak's board has four members and three vacancies. The other two board members are the chairman, David Laney, and Jeffrey Rosen, the Transportation Department's general counsel.

The board now has authority to hire a new president. David Gunn was fired by the board in November.

Congress has agreed to give Amtrak $1.3 billion in subsidies in 2006, but the administration had proposed no funding. Amtrak has a debt of more than $3.5 billion and its operating loss for 2005 topped $550 million.

© Copyright 2005 Capitol Hill Blue