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Peace at any cost is a prelude to war!
Senators warn Clinton on appointments
Threaten to 'put a hold on
every single judicial nominee'
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Sen. James Inhofe, R.-Okla., who seems to be succeeding Sen. Jesse Helms,
R.-N.C., as the conservative hero of the U.S. Senate, has informed President
Clinton that if he goes ahead and makes any one of five proposed recess
appointments over the Christmas recess, Inhofe will retaliate by putting a
permanent hold on every single judicial appointment Clinton makes for the
rest of his presidency.
The conflict between Inhofe and Clinton stems from the appointment of James
Hormel, a self-professed homosexual, as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg. The
Senate had stalled Hormel's confirmation when Clinton, last May, gave Hormel
a recess appointment -- meaning he can serve as ambassador until the next
Congress is seated in 2001.
In response to that move, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R.-Miss.,
spurred by Inhofe, sent Clinton a letter insisting the President abide by a
protocol governing recess appointments that had been made in an agreement
between then-Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, D.-W.V., and President
Ronald Reagan in 1985. That protocol calls on the President to notify the
Senate in advance of any recess appointments he intends to make, so that the
Senate can act on them before recessing, if it wishes.
Last month, Clinton notified the Senate that he intended to make 13
appointments during the Christmas recess. Senate conservatives lodged
objections to five of these proposed appointments, including the appointment
of Bill Lann Lee, the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights.
Advise and consent
On Nov. 10, 15 senators joined Inhofe in writing to Clinton, warning him that
if he appointed Lee and four others during this recess, they would respond by
holding all of his judicial nominees through January 2001.
"Each of the five, has or will have, holds in place by individual senators
for specific reasons," an Inhofe spokesman said last week.
Recess appointments are fine when used properly, Inhofe said in a Senate
floor speech on Nov. 19, but previous administrations and this administration
in particular, have abused the appointment power and usurped the Senate's
constitutional authority to review nominees and their qualifications.
The power to make recess appointments, said Inhofe, was important in the era
before mass communications and rapid travel.
"Back in the days when we were on horses and we had legislative sessions that
might have lasted one, two or three months, we found ourselves in recess more
than we were in session," he said. It was necessary then, if someone died in
office or resigned during recess, for the President to put a person to work
for the national interest.
While that situation may never apply now, the Senate's advise and consent
power always does.
"It was put there for checks and balances," said Inhofe. "It was put there
for a very good reason. That reason is just as legitimate today as it was
when our Founding Fathers put it in there; that is, the Senate should advise
and consent to these appointments."
During the mid-'80s, Senate Democrats bristled at the number of recess
appointments made by President Reagan. In a 1985 bargain he struck with Byrd,
Reagan agreed to make recess appointments only in extraordinary
circumstances, and then only to do so after notifying the Senate that he
intended to do so. Byrd could then either agree in advance to the
appointment, or keep the Senate in pro forma session, so the appointment
could not be made.
In his speech on the Senate floor, Inhofe quoted from a June 15 letter
Clinton sent Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R.-Miss.
"I share your opinion that the understanding reached in 1985 between
President Reagan and Senator Byrd cited in your letter remains a fair and
constructive framework, which my administration will follow," said Clinton.
Inhofe, however, is now worried that Clinton will not in fact respect the
agreement.
"I have been concerned because this President has a long history of doing
things he says he is not going to do and not doing things he says he will
do," Inhofe said.
Inhofe and his allies will not interfere if Clinton proceeds with eight of
the 13 recess appointments he listed in a notice to Congress. But if he
appoints any of the other five, said Inhofe, "we will put a hold on every
single judicial nominee of this President for the remainder of his term of
office."
Senators agreed not to contest a ninth nominee last Friday. The five
contested nominees are:
John Holum, as undersecretary of state for arms control and international
security:
Holum worked in George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign. A lawyer, he
later advised Sen. Gary Hart, D.-Colo., on foreign relations. At the time,
Hart did not support Reagan's policy of confronting the Soviet Union. In
Central America, the real threat was poverty, not Communism, said Hart.
Conservatives think Holum puts too much stock in arms control agreements. He
was a great champion of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the Senate
rejected last month. Holum bucked the Pentagon in 1993, when, as part of the
Clinton transition team, he pushed to end the ban on homosexuals in the
military. In 1985, he visited Daniel Ortega's Nicaragua, at a time when the
Sandinistas were using high-profile visitors to lobby against support for the
Contras.
"With some exceptions, those who come usually have well-defined views. What
matters to us is how well they lobby when they return," a Nicaraguan Foreign
Ministry source told United Press International. After visiting Nicaragua
with actor Mandy Patinkin, he and Patinkin had numerous appointments on
Capitol Hill to give their "expert" assessment.
"Mandy's going to talk and I'm going to explain what he said," Holum told UPI
in April 1985. "This country is trying a third alternative, not complete
socialism, not complete capitalism. It is not too late to begin helping
them."
Jay Johnson, as director of the U.S. Mint:
Johnson is a former one-term Democratic congressman and television anchorman
from Green Bay. Right now, Johnson is deputy assistant secretary for
congressional relations at the Department of Agriculture. According to Senate
staffers, there is no urgency to fill the slot at the mint, because the
position is currently filled. Johnson was only appointed in September, and
the White House sent his paperwork to the Senate on Oct. 19. There is no
apparent need to push Johnson through during the recess, they said. The mint
job pays $140,000 and is a five-year appointment. Johnson voted against
impeaching Clinton.
Sally Katzen, as deputy director for management at the Office of Management
and Budget:
Senators apparently oppose Katzen because the Office of Management and
Budget, under areas she currently controls, has not been committed to
reforming the federal bureaucracy. During a confirmation hearing on Sept. 16,
Katzen was grilled by Sen. Fred Thompson, R.-Tenn., about the
administration's poor record of enforcing a 1993 law requiring reform of
several federal agencies. Half of the "high-risk" agencies had not been
addressed, said Thompson.
At the same hearing, Sen. George Voinovich, R.-Ohio, took issue with a 1998
presidential directive on federalism. The directive would have allowed the
federal government to preempt certain state laws in violation of the 10th
Amendment. Voinovich said he opposed her confirmation.
Bill Lann Lee, as assistant attorney general for civil rights:
Conservatives oppose Lee, who continues to serve in an "acting" capacity,
because of his militant agenda of racial quotas and preferences in spite of
Supreme Court decisions that reject them. Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin
Hatch, R-Utah, opposes Lee.
Carl Spielvogel, as U.S. ambassador to the Slovak Republic:
Spielvogel, a New York advertising executive who gave thousands to Democrat
causes, wrote a controversial letter to Clinton on fundraising matters. In
May 1994, Spielvogel wrote, "There are quite a few disaffected 'heavy givers'
who feel let down by a lack of 'tender loving care' since the victory."
Harold Ickes wrote back to Spielvogel that "the DNC is concerned and is
making greater efforts to remedy whatever problem there may be in that
regard." One solution the White House eventually arrived at was to begin
placating high donors with overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom.
Spielvogel worked on advertising for the 1988 Dukakis presidential campaign.
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