SUBJECT: TODAY'S POLITICAL NEWS
DATE: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2004 - 8:00 AM
Insiders Shift To Finger-Pointing In Wake Of Kerik Nomination Flap. White House officials and outside advisers are engaged in a furious round of finger-pointing that's rare in the buttoned-up Bush Administration. The controversy stems from the botched nomination of Bernard Kerik as Secretary of Homeland Security. Among those getting a share of the blame: White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who seems to be taking the hardest hits. One prominent Republican who is close to the White House told US News Bulletin, "Of all the advisers, Giuliani knew Kerik the best and the President trusted his judgment. All this reveals a flaw in the administration's personnel system." Both Democrats and Republicans predicted Giuliani "would take the greatest political heat," the Los Angeles Times reports this morning, but at the White House, officials said the "failed nomination would not affect Bush's relationship with Giuliani." CBS Evening News said "some Republicans say it's a serious misstep for a man who may run for president in 2008." In addition, some White House reporters are seething at how the Kerik withdrawal was handled -- in an e-mail sent to reporters at about 10 p.m.. on Friday, without warning or advance notice. Most correspondents, not having been alerted to the potential news, had closed their stories for the day and gone home. Their complaints, expressed to US News Bulletin, are part of a larger series of problems that the press corps sees in the Bush White House: A zealous desire to keep secrets and make it as difficult as possible to get information about the administration and its decisions, a goal of burying bad news as much as possible, and an insistent refusal to admit mistakes. The President "has not settled on a new choice for Homeland Security," and there are "a number of questions how the White House could have nominated Kerik with all his baggage in the first place," ABC World News Tonight reported. CBS Evening News added that the episode "raises questions, not only about Kerik's background, but the government background check, before he was nominated." The vetting process, headed by Gonzalez, "is supposed to include detailed questionnaires and an interview with the potential nominee," NBC Nightly News noted. But the White House said its check into Kerik's past "had actually been more extensive than officials had indicated earlier," the New York Times reports, with Press Secretary Scott McClellan saying the review "had gone on for weeks" before Bush picked Kerik. But the New York Times also reports that "there was no indication that the White House was aware" that the New York City Department of Investigation looked into Kerik's "social relationship with the owner of a New Jersey construction company suspected of having business ties to organized crime figures" four years ago. Bush To Push Hard For Social Security Overhaul At Summit. President Bush has decided to make a big pitch for Social Security overhaul at the economic "summit" with business leaders later this week in Washington. White House officials tell US News Bulletin that Bush wants to focus on the "economic challenges we face" in the future, and will call for an end to "lawsuit abuse" -- the newest White House vocabulary for tort reform -- urge passage of tax reform, and advocate the need for "budgetary discipline" in Washington. But Bush is most eager to make a pitch for partial privatization of Social Security. Administration insiders tell US News Bulletin that Bush has concluded that he can persuade the Republican-controlled Congress to pass his plan in 2006. It would allow workers to invest part of their Social Security funds in the private sector. A senior Bush adviser tells US News Bulletin, "The President wants to make the case personally, both to business leaders and to the country at large." Paid PR Effort To Reform Social Security Could Top $40 Million. White House and Republican National Committee officials are being advised to spend $40 million or more on TV ads to promote President Bush's plan to reform Social Security. A Republican media strategist tells US News Bulletin, "It's going to take at least that much if they want to succeed." The White House appears to agree that an expensive TV ad and radio campaign is needed to generate public support to influence Congress over the policy. Insiders tell US News Bulletin that the Administration hopes to get support groups and the RNC to spend $30 million or more to help the President's program.. Under one Administration scenario, the Social Security effort will go first or second in the second term plans that also includes tax and tort reform. Unclear is whether the Administration will try to push one, two or all three through Congress at the same time. Several strategists are calling on the Administration to focus instead on one initiative at a time. Bush Nominates Leavitt For HHS. President Bush yesterday nominated Environmental Protection Administrator Michael Leavitt to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Wall Street Journal reports if confirmed, Leavitt "would face a tight budget and pressure to rein in government spending on health care." The Washington Times reports Leavitt "is viewed favorably among the rank and file at HHS, especially because of his track record on family issues." Knight Ridder describes Leavitt as "a former Utah governor and Bush loyalist who specialized in defusing contentious debates at the EPA." The Washington Post reports that "even before the nomination, Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) had threatened to block Senate confirmation of the new HHS secretary out of growing frustration with White House opposition to legalizing importation of prescription drugs." Current Medicare chief Mark McClellan had been expected to be Bush's pick to head HHS. However, the New York Times reports, "Administration officials said" McClellan "was considered indispensable in his current position, where he is managing efforts to carry out a complex new law that offers prescription drug benefits to 41 million elderly and disabled people on Medicare." Potential Leavitt Successors At EPA Mentioned. The AP reports, "Potential successors to Leavitt at EPA include" Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, Douglas H. Benevento, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; David Struhs, head of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; and Barry McBee, former chairman of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. Pentagon Wants Additional $80 Billion For Iraq, Afghanistan. The Wall Street Journal reports Pentagon officials have begun preparing spending requests for a supplemental appropriations bill. The Defense officials "said they will ask the Bush administration for an additional $80 billion in emergency funding to help pay costs of the military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, slightly higher than the $70 billion to $75 billion many on Capitol Hill had expected." A Defense official said "the final White House request, which will be submitted to Congress early next year, would probably come in between $75 billion and $80 billion, pushing the total military costs, since the Iraq war began, to well over $230 billion." McCain Has "No Confidence" In Rumsfeld For Handling Of Iraq War. Sen. John McCain upped the ante in his criticism of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday. CBS Evening News reported McCain "said flat out, he has 'no confidence' in Rumsfeld." In an interview with the AP, McCain "said his comments weren't a call for Mr. Rumsfeld's resignation, explaining that President Bush 'can have the team that he wants around him.'" Meanwhile, on MSNBC's Hardball, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf said Defense Department civilians were responsible for the US strategy in Iraq, adding, "I think that you have to put the blame there to begin with, and they, you know, obviously they were driving the train as far as intelligence apparatus and the information we were getting and that sort of thing." Citing Family Needs, O'Keefe Submits Resignation To Bush. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe yesterday announced his resignation to President Bush in a letter, citing the need "to pursue better economic opportunity for his family," according to the New York Times . O'Keefe, who is a candidate for the position of chancellor at Louisiana State University, said "that the first of his three children would begin college next fall and that 'I owe them the same opportunity my parents provided for me to pursue higher education without the crushing burden of debt thereafter.'" The Los Angeles Times reports the "position at the Baton Rouge campus would pay $500,000 a year, compared with the $158,000 he receives at NASA." ONDCP Director Walters Plans To Stay In His Post. In a story about President Bush's announcement of his choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services, the AP reports that "John Walters, the national drug policy director, plans to stay in his post, White House officials said." Majoras Sworn In As FTC Chair. USA Today reports Deborah Platt Majoras, "recently confirmed by the Senate as Federal Trade Commission chairman, knows consumer protection and competition," and "she may also have one of the finest wardrobes to hit a federal agency in years. Attorney General John Ashcroft even noted her 'impeccable taste in footwear' when he sang her praises at her swearing in." Freddie Mac Selects New Top Lobbyist. Roll Call reports Freddie Mac "has offered its top lobbying job to former White House aide Tim McBride, a move that could draw to a close a nine-month search for a successor to the ousted Mitch Delk, according to several sources close to the matter." Groups Seek To Make Gonzalez Hearings Referendum On Detainee Abuse. The Washington Times reports a "host of liberal groups" are trying to turn the confirmation hearings for Attorney General-designate Alberto Gonzalez "into a referendum on suspected abuses of US military detainees." More than "two dozen civil rights and human rights groups have raised what they call 'serious concerns' and are challenging the Senate Judiciary Committee to scrutinize Mr. Gonzales' 'record, his positions and his future plans for the Justice Department.'" White House To Push "Clear Skies" Proposal In 2005. The Washington Post reports the White House "plans to push Congress to retool the nation's air quality laws early next year, according to administration and industry officials." But the move "has alarmed environmentalists, who fear that President Bush's 'Clear Skies' proposal -- which has not moved in Congress since he unveiled it in 2002 -- would undercut existing federal standards more than the administration's pending plan to revise pollution controls through regulation." Senate Democrats To Hold Unofficial Oversight Hearings. Frustrated at their lack of official power in the Senate to demand information from the Bush Administration and executive branch, UPI reports Senate Democrats "signaled they would continue to try and unofficially oversee the Bush administration." Sen. Byron L. Dorgan and Minority Leader Harry Reid "announced several oversight hearings on a range of subjects next hear. The minority party in Congress argued the Republican leadership has skirted its responsibility for administration oversight as defined in the Constitution." The hearings "have had little impact beyond political show because they are highly partisan affairs with no subpoena power." Survey Finds 24% Of Employers Plan First Quarter Hiring Boost. The Wall Street Journal reports, "About 24% of U.S. employers expect to increase hiring during the first quarter of next year, according to a closely followed survey by temporary-staffing agency Manpower Inc., suggesting that employers remain optimistic about business prospects." Several CBS Employees Face Dismissal Over Fake Document Flap. The Washington Post reports in its "Inside the Beltway" column that a "CBS News insider" said "'four or five' of the network's employees face dismissal as CBS prepares to release a 'critical' internal investigative report on the use of fake documents in a pre-election story challenging President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard." Despite Illness, Rehnquist Has No Plans To Retire. The Wall Street Journal reports Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who has thyroid cancer, has "indicated he has no immediate plans to leave the Supreme Court." Rehnquist "decided to not vote in cases argued during the court's November session, after his late-October hospitalization for the disease, unless he is needed to break a tie." But a court spokeswoman said Rehnquist "will participate in cases next month, which will have been argued in the court's December session, 'regardless of the vote.'" USA Today reports the moves "renewed questions about whether Rehnquist's battle with thyroid cancer is limiting his ability to lead the nation's highest court." Abramoff, Scanlon Seen As Proof Washington Has Co-Opted GOP Revolution. The Weekly Standard reports in its cover story this week on the rise of Republican "Beltway bandits" Jack Abramoff and public affairs specialist Michael Scanlon. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee found that Abramoff and Scanlon, who have ties to Republican leaders such as Rep. Tom DeLay, "split as much as $82 million in fees from six tribes over three years." While Democratic lobbyists "have fattened off Washington for years," Abramoff was "merely the first Republican to discover that pretending to advance the interests of conservative small-government could, for a lobbyist, be as insanely lucrative as pretending to advance the interests of liberal big-government." Political News Ohio Electors Cast Votes For Bush Despite Dissenters' Challenge. The AP reports the 20 Ohio GOP electors cast their votes "for President Bush on Monday, hours after dissident groups asked the state Supreme Court to review the outcome of the state's presidential race." The "challengers who went to Ohio's Supreme Court question whether Mr. Bush won the key swing state by 119,000 votes." Minnesota Elector Votes For Edwards, Apparently By Mistake. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports John Kerry "likely is going to get one less electoral vote nationally than he should have -- 251 instead of 252 -- because of an apparent mistake Monday by one of Minnesota's 10 DFL electors." One of "the 10 handwritten ballots cast for president carried the name of vice presidential candidate John Edwards (actually spelled 'Ewards' on the ballot) rather than Kerry." King County To Count 561 Initially Rejected Absentee Ballots In Washington Governor's Race. The Seattle Times reports King County election officials "said today they will count 561 votes that were rejected in the governor's race." The ballots were "thrown out because the county voters' signatures didn't appear among the records in a computer database. Election workers erroneously threw out those votes before using voter-registration cards to verify signatures on absentee-ballot envelopes." The AP reports King County Elections Director Dean Logan said "hundreds of absentee ballots were mistakenly rejected in the heavily Democratic stronghold -- enough to swing the close governor's race to Democrat Christine Gregoire." The Seattle Times reports that GOP state chair Chris Vance said yesterday that Republicans are now "absolutely convinced that King County is trying to steal this election" and added, "I guess we should just keep expecting King County to find votes until they find enough." Not including the 561 ballots in King County, Rossi has a net gain of 46 votes so far during the hand-recount, bringing his lead to 88, according to the Washington Secretary of State . "Rove Envy" Seen As Hopeful Sign For Democrats. In his Washington Post column, E.J. Dionne says, "Democrats have come down with a serious case of Rove Envy. It is a form of jealousy that could have some useful consequences." The "longing is for the strategic clarity and organizational acumen that Karl Rove, President Bush's political top gun, brought to the 2004 campaign." What "really irks Democrats is that they did a lot of things right this year and were still out-hustled by the GOP. Figuring out why is -- and should be -- a Democratic obsession." Howard Dean and outgoing Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe "don't agree on much. But they do agree on Rove Envy and the need for new approaches." Rendell Forms Panels To Look At Earlier Pennsylvania Presidential Primary. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports this morning that Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) yesterday said he would like to move the state's presidential primary from May to late January or early February to give the state a greater say in the presidential primary process, and announced the creation of a task force to examine the issue. Former Bush Campaign Official Pleads Not Guilty To Phone Jamming Plot. The AP reports James Tobin, the "former New England chairman of President Bush's reelection campaign, pleaded innocent in federal court yesterday to charges he helped jam Democrats' get-out-the-vote phone lines on Election Day 2002." Tobin "faces two criminal counts each of conspiring to make harassing telephone calls and aiding and abetting telephone harassment." Snowe To Run For Reelection. The AP reports this morning that Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) announced she was running for reelection yesterday, saying, "It's sort of early to announce all that, but people have asked me so I obviously want to make sure that people know that I do intend to run for re-election." Political Humor Jay Leno: "Bernard Kerik, has withdrawn his name. He said it's because of nanny problems. The New York Daily News says, 'No, no.' They say Kerik cheated on his wife, and he also cheated on his mistress with another woman. So now Bush thinks secretly he may be a Democrat." Jay Leno: "One political expert...says that the White House nomination of Bernard Kerik as Homeland Security chief, they said it was rushed, not fully thought out, and they didn't have a backup plan if things go wrong. That doesn't sound like the White House I know." David Letterman: "You're here on a special night. The entire balcony in the Ed Sullivan Theatre is filled with skeletons from Bernard Kerik's closet." David Letterman: "President Bush has announced that our new Energy Secretary will be Sam Bodman. Yeah. Gee, I hope he can fill the charisma void left by Spencer Abraham."

posted by Joshua P. Angell  @ 14.12.04

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