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http://www.oldamericancentury.org/bushco/cronyism.htm

Bush's talent for cronyism: foxes guarding the henhouse

Incompetent at best, dangerous at worst

James Baker: Iraq Debt Envoy

BUSH appoints James Baker as Iraq debt envoy
Baker is senior counselor to the Carlyle Group, a global investment company that has done business with the Saudi royal family. He is also a partner in Baker Botts, a Houston law firm whose client list includes Halliburton and the Saudi Royal family. Mr. Baker's law firm will most likely represent the Saudi Royals in the suit against them filed by the 9-11 victims families

Vice-president Dick Cheney, who chairs the White House Energy Policy Development Group, commissioned a report on ''energy security'' from the Baker Institute for Public Policy, a think-tank set up by James Baker. Baker who delivered the recommendations to Cheney, was advised by Kenneth Lay, the disgraced former chief executive of Enron. The other advisers to Baker were: Luis Giusti, a Shell non-executive director; John Manzoni, regional president of BP and David O'Reilly, chief executive of ChevronTexaco. Now you know why the energy policy meetings aren't available to the public.

John Snow: Secretary of Treasury

Appointed by Bush as Secretary of the treasury after firing Paul O'neil: John Snow recently stepped down as CEO of CSX. Under Snow's watch, despite raking in close to a billion dollars in pretax profits since 1998, CSX paid no federal income taxes in three of the past four years – magically making all of its profits "pretax." What's more, thanks to a combination of accounting gimmicks and tax shelters, the company was even able to score a hefty $164 million in tax rebates during that time. Tax rebates on taxes that CSX NEVER PAID. After looting the treasury of our tax dollars, Bush has appointed him Secretary of that same treasury. more on Snow and CSX

Mike Leavitt: former EPA administrator current Secretary of Health and Human Services

Environmental groups across the nation have expressed serious concerns over, former Utah governor, Leavitt's nomination. On September 22, 2003 the Utah Rivers Council, Families Against Incinerator Risk, and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance announced their opposition to Leavitt's nomination pointing to his anti-environmental record, specifically his record of lax enforcement of environmental laws against major polluters, controversial deals that shut the public out of the environmental decision-making process, and the state's poor environmental performance overall

As Utah governor he allowed US Magnesium to emit over 42 million tons of Chlorine per year-nine times the Chlorine emissions from all other states. Despite intense local pressure from citizen groups, Leavitt's Department of Environmental Quality failed to bring the polluter under control. The EPA was forced to step in, filing a $900 million lawsuit against MagCorp for alleged environmental violations. He is now head of that very same EPA source 1 source 2 (.pdf formet)

Leavitt downplayed the toxic releases of the mining industry - including the releases of the potent neurotoxin Mercury -by saying "in reality it is not pollution."
Leavitt sponsored policy resolutions of the Western Governors' Association in 2000 and 2002 to oppose environmental regulation of the mining industry and to limit public access to information about the industry's toxic pollution.

Kennecott, Utah has one of the world's largest ground water contamination problems as a result of its mining operations and Leavitt's refuals to do anything about it
Tried to get away with passing on a fine of $35,000 to the grossly negligent radioactive waste disposal company Envirocare. However, the EPA was not satisfied with this settlement, so the DEQ raised the fine to $79,000. The EPA, still unsatisfied with the settlement, eventually issued its own Notice of Violation and fined Envirocare over $600,000. He is now head of that same EPA.

Under his watch, the Phillips Refinery emitted excess amounts of sulfur more than 1000 times between September 1994 and November 1997. The EPA stepped in once again, taking enforcement action against the refinery in November 1997. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, an official from the EPA said that his office may not have had to take action had the Utah DEQ done its job.
Back Room Deals (Information from Earthjustice unless otherwise noted.) Leavitt has been involved in several back room deals that lock the public out of the environmental decision-making process.

In the first case, Leavitt struck a back room deal with the bush administration to open six million acres of wild lands in Utah to mining, clearcutting, oil and gas drilling, and bulldozing.
In the second case, the Leavitt administration threatened to sue the federal government in an attempt to make it possible for Utah to bulldoze highways over tens of thousands of miles of cow paths and hiking trails through national parks, wildlife refuges, national monuments, and wilderness areas.

In the third case, citizen groups sued the federal government to enforce off-road vehicle use restrictions in Utah's designated wilderness areas. The Leavitt administration intervened, arguing that neither the court nor the federal government could limit off-road vehicle use in these areas because Utah should have rights-of-way in these areas.

Linda Fisher: Deputy administrator at EPA

Former Mocnsanto V.P. Second in ranking only to EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman. Her appointment was opposed by critics of genetically modified (GM) foods who raised concerns about industry's ability to influence Fisher. Fisher lobbied on behalf of Monsanto from 1995 until 2000 and was a proponent of the decision not to mandate GM foods labeling. More on Linda Fisher
Gale A. Norton: Secretary of the Interior:

Appointed Gale A. Norton, former mining industry lobbyist and current secretary of the interior: She is a proponent of "self-audit" laws, which allow industries to decide on their own whether or not they comply with environmental regulations. In her writings, she actually suggested that there is a "homesteading right to pollute". Among many proposals of note: abolishing the Bureau of Land Management, selling off fish and wildlife refuges "the transfer to private ownership of federally held, so-called public lands." In her current position at Brownstein, Hyatt, Norton has been working as a registered lobbyist for NL Industries. NL Industries is a defendant in approximately 75 governmental and private actions associated with waste disposal sites, mining locations and facilities.

J. Steven Griles: Deputy Secretary of the Interior:

A former oil and coal lobbyist, J. Steven Griles violated recusal agreements in order to lobby on behalf of a company he formerly owned and from which he is not fully divested. A longtime lobbyist for the energy industry, Griles has met regularly with clients of his former employer, National Environmental Strategies (NES), during his tenure at Interior while receiving $284,000 per year from NES as part of a $1.1 million payout for his "client base." Griles has played a key role in decisions affecting the Clean Air Act, oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf, coal bed methane development in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, and wetland permit rules. While a lobbyist, Griles represented oil, gas and coal clients with interests in these same issues. Lawsuit Filed to Obtain Information about Payments from Previous Employer and Meetings with Former Mining, Oil and Gas Industry Clients

Lynn Scarlett: Undersecretary of the Interior

Recycling foe Lynn Scarlett, one of the architects of Bush's "new environmentalism". Scarlett began working for the libertarian Reason Foundation, becoming its president and CEO in 2001. The Reason Foundation is funded by industry groups such as the American Forest and Paper Association, the American Petroleum Institute, American Plastics Council, Chevron Corporation, Dow Chemical, etc. The author of "A Consumer's Guide to Environmental Myths and Realities," Scarlett cites the following as common myths about the environment: Disposables Are Bad; We Are Running Out of Resources; Americans Are Especially Wasteful; etc. Scarlett was a board member of The Thoreau Institute which "seeks ways to protect the environment without regulation, bureaucracy, or central control." Source

David Lauriski: Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety

David Lauriski, is a long-time coal industry executive and lobbyist. Shortly after taking office, Lauriski bragged to a group of coal industry executives that his regulatory agenda "is quite a bit shorter than some past agendas." Indeed, death warrants usually tend towards brevity. Part of Lauriski's abbreviated agenda is to reduce the number of times a mining company has to sample coal dust levels inside the tunnels, a move that is certain to increase incidence of black lung disease. And yes, Lauriski wants to get rid of the chest X-ray program that tests miners for black lung disease. Lauriski also wants to slash the number of mine inspectors by 25 percent.

Michael Brown: FEMA Director (Since resigned still, on FEMA payroll as a consultant)

The former head of an Arabian horse Association, he was appointed by Bush in January 2003. A TIME magazine investigation revealed discrepancies discrepancies in his online legal profile and official bio, including a description of Brown released by the White House at the time of his nomination in 2001 to the job as deputy chief of FEMA. The White House press release from 2001 stated that Brown worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 "overseeing the emergency services division." In fact, according to Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, Brown was an "assistant to the city manager" from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. "The assistant is more like an intern," she told TIME. "Department heads did not report to him."

Under the "honors and awards" section of his profile at FindLaw.com — which is information on the legal website provided by lawyers or their offices—he lists "Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University". However, Brown "wasn't a professor here, he was only a student here," says Charles Johnson, News Bureau Director in the University Relations office at the University of Central Oklahoma (formerly named Central State University). "He may have been an adjunct instructor," says Johnson, but that title is very different from that of "professor."

Mike Brown committed perjury while testifying under oath regarding the handling of the hurricane Katrina response, claiming that Louisiana Gov. Blanco’s August 27th request to the President for a federal emergency declaration excluded Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquerines parishes. In fact, Blanco requested the President to declare a disaster in “all the southeastern parishes,” which includes Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines. See the request for yourself on the Project for the OLD American Century website on the “downloads” page.

Patrick Rhode: Acting Deputy Director Federal Emergency Management Agency

Former TV anchor for local network affiliates in Alabama and Arkansas, 36-year-old Patrick Rhode entered federal government in 2001 as deputy director of advance operations for the Bush White House, a job he had also held for Bush's 2000 campaign. He recently said that FEMA's response to Katrina was "probably one of the most efficient and effective responses in the country's history."
John Pennington: Director, Region Ten, Federal Emergency Management Agency

A former state representative who ran a coffee business with his wife in rural Washington, Pennington served as Cowlitz County co-chairman of the Bush campaign in 2000.
Washington Representative Jennifer Dunn, who had been the Bush campaign's state chairperson, approached Pennington about the FEMA post, to which he was appointed in 2001. In September 2005, The Seattle Times reported that, just before he was appointed to his fema post, Pennington received his bachelor's degree from an unaccredited California correspondence school that federal investigators later described as a "diploma mill."

Stewart Simonson: Assistant Secretary for Public Health and Emergency Preparedness, Department of Health and Human Services

According to his official biography, Stewart Simonson is the Health and Human Services Department's point man "on matters related to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies." Prior to joining HHS in 2001, Simonson's background was not in public health, but ... public transit. He'd previously been a top official at the passenger rail company Amtrak. Before that, he was an adviser to Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, specializing in crime and prison policy. When Thompson became HHS secretary in 2001, he hired Simonson as a legal adviser and promoted him to his current post shortly before leaving the Department last year.

Rear Admiral Cristina Beato: Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services

In June 2004, Cristina Beato admitted to her hometown newspaper that she hadn't paid much attention to the details of her resumé. That's too bad, because those silly little details seem to have stalled her confirmation for assistant secretary for health for over two years now. Beato said she earned a master's of public health in occupational medicine from the University of Wisconsin (but the university doesn't even offer that degree). She claimed to be "one of the principal leaders who revolutionized medical education in American universities by implementing the Problem Based learning curriculum" (but the curriculum was developed while Beato was still a medical student). She listed "medical attaché" to the American Embassy in Turkey as a job she held in 1986 (but that position didn't exist until 1995). She also boasted that she had "established" the University of New Mexico's occupational health clinic (but the clinic existed before she was hired, and there was even another medical director before her)

Scott Gottlieb: Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs

In July2004, Scott Gottlieb was named deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs, one of three deputies in the agency's second-ranked post at FDA. His official FDA biography notes that Gottlieb, 33, who got his medical degree at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, did a previous stint providing policy advice at the agency, as well as at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and was a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. What the bio omits is that his most recent job was as editor of a popular Wall Street newsletter, the Forbes/Gottlieb Medical Technology Investor, in which he offered such tips as "Three Biotech Stocks to Buy Now."

In declaring Gottlieb a "noted authority" who had written more than 300 policy and medical articles, the biography neglects the fact that many of those articles criticized the FDA for being too slow to approve new drugs and too quick to issue warning letters when it suspects ones already on the market might be unsafe. Carter-era FDA Commissioner Donald Kennedy, a former Stanford University president and now executive editor-in-chief of the journal Science, say Gottlieb breaks the mold of appointees at that level who are generally career FDA scientists or experts well known in their field.

Stan Suboleski: Mine Safety and Health Review Commission

Suboleski is an executive with the A.C. Massey Coal Company which, according to the United Mineworkers, has one of the worst safety records in the industry. Massey is also the company responsible for the annihilation of more than 70 miles of streams in eastern Kentucky when 300 million gallons of coal sludge spilled from one of its mines. It was the worst ecological disaster in the US since the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Stan's appointment was a recess appointment, meaning that his appointment was made during a senate recess, freeing him from requiring senate confirmation hearings.

Paul Hoffman: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Department of the Interior

Interior Secretary Gale Norton today appointed Paul Hoffman. Former chief of the Chamber of Commerce in Cody, Wyoming, (population 9,000). Hoffman had no parks experience other than recreating in them and, as head of the Cody Chamber, pushed for more snowmobiles in nearby Yellowstone National Park. But he had spent four years in the 1980s working as the state director for then-Wyoming Representative Dick Cheney.

In April 2003, he went against the wishes of the staff of Yellowstone and asked the U.N. World Heritage Committee to remove the park from its "In Danger List." In 2004, he instructed the Grand Canyon National Park's visitor centers to stock a creationist book that explained how God made the canyon 6,000 years ago, ordering up a flood to wipe out "the wickedness of man." This year, Hoffman pushed for wholesale revisions to the Park Service's management policies. Instead of giving priority to protecting natural resources, Hoffman proposed that managers emphasize multiple uses for their parks--including snowmobiling, Jet-Skiing, grazing, drilling, and mining.

Hector Barreto: Administrator, Small Business Administration

His Los Angeles firm, Barreto Insurance & Financial Services Company, had only ten employees. Alas, now that he is in charge of a bigger operation--the Small Business Administration (SBA) has over 3,000 employees, a budget of about $600 million, and a portfolio of loans totaling $45 billion--Barreto is struggling. Last year, the SBA failed to notify Congress that it needed additional funding for its largest and most popular loan program and was forced to temporarily shutter it because, as Barreto's spokesperson explained, it was "out of money." Meanwhile, the SBA was doing such a poor job managing the $5 billion in loans the government set aside to help small businesses recover from September 11 that, according to an Associated Press investigation, the vast majority of the money went to businesses not affected by the terrorist attacks--including a South Dakota country radio station, a Utah dog boutique, and more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts and Subway sandwich shops.

In September of 2005, the Senate Small Business Committee, prompted by complaints from Gulf Coast small-business owners, held hearings on the SBA's response to Hurricane Katrina. Barreto pledged that his agency would approve Katrina-related loans in days, not months, but a SBA deputy conceded in late September that, out of 12,000 loan applications from small businesses affected by the hurricane, the SBA had so far approved only 76.

Andrew Maner: Chief Financial Officer, Department of Homeland Security

Andrew Maner was appointed by President George W. Bush in January 2004 as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As the CFO, Mr. Maner is responsible for all budget, finance and accounting, strategic planning and evaluation, GAO liaison, bankcard programs, and financial systems for the Department. He is also responsible for the on-going integration of all those functions within the new Department.

In the first Bush administration, Maner helped to plan presidential travel and served as a junior press aide. Later, he followed the defeated George H.W. Bush back to Texas to be a spokesman for the ex-president. After several private sector years working in information technology and procurement, he took over the U.S. Customs Office of Trade Relations, whose mission is to foster "positive relationships with the international trade community."

Maner called the Customs job a "logical next step in [my] career." Less logical, however, was his leap (after a short stint as chief of staff to the Customs commissioner) to managing DHS's sprawling $40 billion budget. Given his slim management background, it's convenient that Maner landed the only Cabinet department CFO slot that doesn't require Senate confirmation. When DHS officials recently unveiled a revamped organizational chart, Maner's office was accidentally omitted.

Steven Law: Deputy Secretary, Department of Labor

Starting out as a lowly Capitol Hill legislative aide. In 1990, Law's boss, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, tapped him to serve as campaign manager for his reelection race. Law ran a campaign that insinuated McConnell's Democratic opponent was both mentally ill and a drug addict. Law returned to Washington as McConnell's chief of staff, and, six years later, when McConnell was chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, he made Law the group's executive director, relying on him for help in thwarting campaign finance reform legislation.

Hal Stratton: Chairman, Consumer Product Safety Commission

Former former state representative and attorney general in New Mexico who co-chaired the local Lawyers for Bush during the 2000 campaign initially wanted a job in the Interior Department. "That didn't work out," he told the Albuquerque Journal, "but I told them, 'Don't count me out' ... and they came up with this." "This" being the position of heading the federal agency responsible for protecting the public against unreasonable risks of injuries and deaths associated with 5,000 types of consumer products.

Jim Nicholson: Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs

In contrast to the four most recent VA heads--who had previously held leadership positions with Disabled American Veterans, the Department of Defense, a state-level VA department, and VA itself--Jim Nicholson brings a resume devoid of experience to veterans' advocacy. After Vietnam, he went into real-estate law and development in Colorado.

He chaired the Republican National Committee from 1997 to 2000, raising close to $380 million for the 2000 cycle. In Bush's first term, Nicholson was rewarded with the ambassadorship to the Holy See. In February 2005, he joined his brother John , who was already head of the National Cemetery Administration, in working for the VA.

Nicholson had written on April 5: "I can assure you that VA does not need [additional money] to continue to provide timely, quality service." Two months later, he admitted that VA had underestimated the number of veterans who would be seeking medical treatment this year by nearly 80,000 because it had failed to take into account the surge in enrollment by veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.
Republican House Appropriations Committee Chair Jerry Lewis said VA's failure to identify the problem and notify Congress earlier "borders on stupidity."

Claire Buchan: Chief of Staff, Department of Commerce

Former deputy press secretary at the White House, Buchan was promoted to chief of staff at the Commerce Department, where she now helps the secretary oversee a $6.3 billion budget and some 38,000 employees.

Some of Buchan's colleagues in the White House press corps were left speechless when her new assignment was announced in February. One White House reporter who worked closely with Buchan for five years called her "the most useless in a Bush universe of enforced uselessness. She took empty banality to a new low.

David Safavian, U.S. procurement czar (Busted)

A law-school internship helping the Pentagon buy helicopters appears to be about the extent of his experience in the field. Safavian spent the bulk of hiscareer as a lobbyist, previous to his nomination to a top oversight position As administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Safavian, 38, was placed in charge of the $300 billion the government spends each year on everything from paper clips to nuclear submarines, as well as the $62 billion already earmarked for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. It was his job to ensure that the government got the most for its money and that competition for federal contracts -- among companies as well as between government workers and private contractors--was fair. It was his job until he resigned on September 16, 2005 and was subsequently arrested and charged with lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with the Federal Government.

Safavian's April 2004 confirmation hearing before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee (attended by only five of the panel's 17 members) lasted just 67 minutes, and not a single question was asked about his qualifications. His political clout, federal procurement experts say privately, came from his late-1990s lobbying partnership with Grover Norquist, now head of Americans for Tax Reform and a close ally of the Bush Administration. Norquist is an antitax advocate who once famously declared that his goal was to shrink the Federal Government so he could "drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

David Wilkins: American Ambassador to Canada

David Wilkins--a former South Carolina legislator whose chief contribution to world affairs before this year was raising $200,000 for President Bush's 2004 campaign had only been to Canada once (Niagara Falls). Wilkins promptly escalated the two countries' dispute over softwood lumber by accusing Canadians of being overly emotional and by threatening an all-out trade war that would have affected multiple industries, from broadcasting to eggs. -Wilkins eventually admitted his approach to the lumber dispute had been flawed. "My attempt to bring the emotion down increased the emotion," he said.

Harriett Miers: Supreme Court Justice (Nomination withdrawn)

Bush's personal lawyer. You know you may be expecting trouble when your President appoints his personal lawyer to the Supreme Court sans any judicial experience.

Mark McKinnon: Democratic slot, Broadcasting Board of Governors (confirmation pending)

The Broadcasting Board of Governors oversees Voice of America and other U.S. media beamed to the Middle East; and, in the spirit of accurately representing the United States, it reserves seats for members of both major political parties. For one of the four Democratic slots, President Bush recently nominated Mark McKinnon, or "M-Cat" as he calls him.

M-Cat's career highlights include overseeing media strategy for Bush's two presidential bids, in which capacity he masterminded a spot predicting that John Kerry would "Weaken [the] Fight Against Terrorists." And, in last year's campaign, his company, Maverick Media, accepted over $177 million in fees from Bush and the Republican National Committee.

Israel Hernandez: Assistant Secretary for Trade Promotion and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, Department of Commerce (confirmation pending)
Hired

Amb. Ellen Sauerbrey as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration (Nomination pending)

Sauerbrey ran unsuccessfully for governor of Maryland twice during the 1990s, has served in relatively low-profile State Department positions since Bush took office in 2001, most recently as U.S. representative to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the U.N.'s Commission on the Status of Women. In 2000, she served as state chairman of Bush's presidential campaign.

While such ambassadorial posts are often awarded to political appointees with little or no background in the relevant substantive areas, an assistant secretary's post with major operational responsibilities and an annual budget of more than 700 million dollars usually goes to either a senior career officer or a political appointee with major relevant experience. A coalition of 10 women's health and rights groups has urged Bush to withdraw the nomination of Amb. Ellen Sauerbrey, calling it "yet another in a long string of crony nominations of unqualified individuals for critical positions".

The groups' statement followed editorials denouncing Sauerbrey's appointment by two of the country's most important newspapers, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, which called her unqualified and too ideological, as well as criticism by prominent emergency relief groups.

Groups that called for Bush to withdraw the nomination included the Feminist Majority Foundation, Americans for UNFPA, the Western Hemisphere section of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Women's Environment and Development Organisation. Source

Primary sources:
New Republic Online
Time Magazine online

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