Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (232843)	5/15/2005 2:35:14 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578901

Too few questions on Bolton and leadership BY PAUL C. LIGHT May 15, 2005 The fight over John Bolton's nomination as UN ambassador may yet produce a long needed debate about how presidents fill some of the toughest jobs in the world. Like far too many appointees before him, Bolton won his nomination without regard to his leadership style. He also won the nod in spite of the quiet opposition of his most recent boss, former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Bolton was nominated almost entirely on the basis of his loyalty to the president, his ideological intensity and membership in the professional class of appointees who await the next plum to add to their resumé. Having held four appointments under three Republican presidents, Bolton was named for the UN assignment largely because he was available, not because he had shown the leadership skills needed for such an important assignment. To the contrary, as Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said Thursday, his sometimes abusive behavior as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security would have earned him a pink slip in the private sector. The question is how a candidate with a flair for intimidation made it so far. The answer will not be found in the 60 pages of forms Bolton filled out as part of the nomination process. Bolton had to list every address he has lived at in the past 15 years, every school he attended, every employer and supervisor, country of birth, citizenship of his mother, father, siblings (full, step, or half) and in-laws, all foreign countries he visited, including short trips to Canada or Mexico, any arrests, traffic fines of more than $150, illegal drug use and alcohol abuse dating back to age 18 and any psychological counseling he might have received. But none of the more than 200 questions asked about Bolton's definition of leadership, his approach to managing people, problems he might have had with subordinates, his commitment to public service, his definition of ethical conduct, or his own supervisory behavior. The only question that comes even remotely close to such issues is in the White House Personal Data Questionnaire, and it is nearly impossible to answer: "Is there anything about you or your family that would embarrass the president?" The answer will not be found at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which reviewed all Bolton's answers, nor at the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, which searched his financial records for possible conflicts of interest. And it will not be found in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee questionnaire, which asks dozens of questions about policy, but none about leadership and management. The reason Bolton made it so far without a yellow light is that the appointments process itself does not concern itself with leadership per se. Congress and presidents long ago decided that leadership is equal to the number of leaders, not necessarily the ability to lead. Toward that end, they have added layer upon layer of political appointees to the federal hierarchy in a vain effort to make government work. Whereas President John F. Kennedy appointed just 10 cabinet secretaries, 6 deputy secretaries, 15 undersecretaries, and 87 assistant secretaries, George W. Bush has appointed nearly three times as many people in those top categories. As the numbers have grown, the ability to check each candidate has declined. The presidential appointments process is like a concrete pipe, meaning it can handle only so many nominees at a time. Nominees like John Bolton are perfect for the process. Having been vetted several times before, they arrive at the front end of the process with a presumption in favor of appointment. Who better to nominate for a top job than an appointee who has been confirmed four times before? Who better to send to the Senate than a nominee who has never raised questions before? There was only one small obstacle in Bolton's way: A senator named Voinovich, who happened to care a great deal about leadership. Having been a big-city mayor for 10 years and a state governor for eight, Voinovich also happened to worry about the future of the federal workforce, and Bolton's impact as a tyrant. No matter what happens to Bolton, Voinovich's objection is likely to echo through the White House and Senate for some time. Perhaps it will even force an overhaul of the woefully antiquated appointments process by putting the focus on leadership, not the number of leaders. newsday.com

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (232843)	5/15/2005 2:41:57 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578901

Cracks appear in DeLay's home district By Howard Witt Tribune senior correspondent Published May 15, 2005 SUGAR LAND, Texas -- Local Republican leaders insist all is well here amid the new million-dollar homes, upscale shopping malls and glistening megachurches that have come to characterize the suburban prosperity and bedrock conservatism of Congressman Tom DeLay's home district. But beneath the well-manicured lawns and pristine artificial lakes that abound in planned communities that comprise much of DeLay's district, rumblings of discontent are beginning to be felt in this area south of Houston as turmoil grows back in Washington over the House majority leader's alleged ethical lapses. Several recent polls, as well as last November's election results, suggest DeLay's core support among Republican voters is slipping as the allegations against him mount. Some outspoken local Republicans have braved rebukes from party leaders and publicly spoken out against him. Credible Democratic challengers have begun to test the waters in preparation for next year's race. And DeLay himself has stepped up the frequency of his speeches and appearances back home. Party leaders here say that the loyal Republican voters in House District 22 who have offered DeLay safe harbor for 11 consecutive terms in Congress are untroubled by the controversies swirling around him over his close connections to lobbyists, his foreign trips and his use of campaign funds. "I think everything here is fine," said Eric Thode, the chairman of the Ft. Bend County Republican Party. "This district is not going to be won by a Democrat." But Beverly Carter, a Republican precinct chairwoman and publisher of the Ft. Bend Southwest Star, thinks Thode is whistling past the golf course when he pronounces himself untroubled. "I guarantee you he is just pretending. Eric knows better than that," said Carter, who endorsed DeLay's Democratic opponent in last year's election. "Most people won't say anything bad about Tom because they are afraid of him and what might happen to them. ... But the fact that he was admonished by the ethics committee three times last year, all of that is starting to be noticed." District 60% Republican No one here, not even the most optimistic Democrat, is predicting DeLay's imminent political demise in a district that is 60 percent Republican. Instead, the talk is of "trends" and "dynamics" and "worst-case scenarios" for the powerful congressional leader. "Tom DeLay does not suffer from hubris about his own political fortunes," said Robert Stein, a political scientist who is dean of Rice University's social sciences department. "He's back in the district doing the things you have to do to shore up support.... "The evidence is not there yet that the bad news about Tom DeLay has eroded enough of his support to make a difference," Stein added. "But it's moving in that direction." Stein divines that direction in part from a Houston Chronicle poll in April that showed 49 percent of those surveyed would vote for someone other than DeLay in the next election. A SurveyUSA poll this month showed that 51 percent of those questioned in DeLay's district disapproved of his performance as a congressman. DeLay's critics contend the slippage actually started last November, when he beat his Democratic challenger, Sugar Land environmental lawyer Richard Morrison, by a margin of 55 percent to 41 percent. DeLay's numbers were down from previous elections, when he often pulled more than 60 percent of the vote in his district. "This is a man who first ran for Congress saying we need a congressman who is not beholden to lobbyists," said Morrison, who recently decided against another challenge because his mother has fallen ill with cancer. "Now he's become what he campaigned against." But DeLay's defenders say his support is solid and that he actually engineered the export of some of his loyal Republican voters into neighboring congressional districts, as part of the controversial 2003 Texas redistricting that helped unseat four incumbent Democrats in last November's elections. Some in DeLay's home district say they are most concerned by the allegations of unethical conduct that are due to be examined by the House ethics committee. DeLay stands accused of having taken trips underwritten by lobbyists, in violation of House ethics rules, and he is under fire for his ties to one lobbyist in particular who is under federal investigation. DeLay has vigorously denied that he ever broke any rules. "The ethics issues are sort of icing on the cake, or dirt on the grave," said Patricia Baig, a substitute teacher in DeLay's district and self-described lifelong Republican who bought an advertisement in a local paper last month urging protesters to attend an anti-DeLay rally. Others were troubled by DeLay's drive to have Congress intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband sought to have her artificial feeding tube removed but whose parents fought to keep her alive. Schiavo died March 31, nearly two weeks after the courts ordered the feeding tube removed. The Chronicle poll in April showed that nearly 58 percent of those questioned disapproved of DeLay's decision to get Congress involved in case. continue >> chicagotribune.com