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Senator blocks Bush's Australian envoy pick« Thread Started

Daily newsbrief journal for April 2006, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


Senator blocks Bush's Australian envoy pick« Thread Started

Postby admin » Fri Jan 27, 2012 8:11 am

Senator blocks Bush's Australian envoy pick« Thread Started on Apr 15, 2006, 5:13am » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Senator blocks Bush's Australian envoy pickEmail Print Normal font Large font By Mark CoultanApril 15, 2006read source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/ ... lPRESIDENT George Bush's nominee for ambassador to Australia has hit a roadblock, with an influential US senator holding up the nomination.Dick Durbin, assistant Democratic leader in the Senate, has placed a hold on Mr Bush's nomination of long-time friend and Assistant Attorney-General, Robert McCallum. Under Senate rules, any member can place a hold on an executive nomination. It requires 60 votes to over-ride a hold.In a letter to President Bush, Senator Durbin said it was premature to place Mr McCallum in a new position of trust while the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility was examining his role in a controversial case against the tobacco industry.In 1999, the US Justice Department launched a huge civil litigation and racketeering case, alleging that cigarette companies knowingly engaged in deception for decades by denying that nicotine was addictive and down-playing the dangers of smoking. At the end of the case last year, the Justice Department reduced the amount the Bush Administration was seeking from the tobacco industry from $130 billion to $10 billion. The judge is yet to rule in that case.The Washington Post reported: "Sources and government officials close to the case said the trial lawyers wanted to request $130 billion for smoking-cessation programs but were pressured by leaders in the Attorney-General's office, particularly McCallum, to make the cut." At the time, Mr McCallum denied political influence, saying the remedy had to be scaled back because of an appeals court ruling in the case, which dictated that it could only address future misconduct by the tobacco companies and not previous misconduct.The decision caused a storm, as the Government's key witness in the case had pressed for a $130 billion program.In his letter to Mr Bush, Senator Durbin said: "It appears that the dramatic change in course by the Department of Justice was not the result of any new evidence about smoking cessation or the facts of the case but the result of political pressure on the career prosecutors."Senators should be given an independent, unbiased assurance that he did not take any improper actions in the tobacco lawsuit before we are asked to consider his nomination."Consumer advocate Ralph Nader and several Democrat senators complained to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility about Mr McCallum's conduct. They claimed he had broken ethical guidelines because before his appointment in 2001, he had worked for Alston & Bird, an Atlanta-based law firm that had done trademark and patent work for RJ Reynolds Tobacco. With 55 Republicans in the Senate, Mr McCallum would require support from at least five Democrats to be confirmed as ambassador.Mr Bush nominated Mr McCallum to fill the job of American ambassador last month, after leaving the Canberra post vacant for 13 months. At least one previous candidate had to drop out because of the financial due diligence required to be cleared for the post.THE ROAD TO CANBERRAThe US constitution gives the President the power "to nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint ambassadors" and other public officials, such as Supreme Court judges. The Senate foreign relations committee holds confirmation hearings on ambassadorial appointments.The recommendation of the committee is then voted on by the full Senate.An ambassador's appointment can be effectively held up by a filibuster.Democrats tried to do this to President George Bush's appointment of John Bolton to the United Nations, and Republican senators tried at least three times to block President Bill Clinton appointments of ambassadors.The President can get around Senate objections by making an ambassadorial appointment while the Senate is in recess. This is how he appointed John Bolton.But these appointments expire when a new Congress is sworn in, which will be early next year.With AGENCIES
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