Michigan’s Democratic Senator Carl Levin, ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, has pledged to block President Bush’s immigration nominee Julie Myers, who is viewed by many to be underqualified for the position. Now a high ranking Senate Republican is joining his side. The New York Times‘ David E. Rosenbaum and Steven Labaton have the story.
Faced with accusations that the Bush administration is stocking the government with unqualified cronies, the Republican chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is holding up the nomination of a lawyer with little background in immigration or customs to head the law enforcement agency in charge of those issues.
Democrats have seized on the political fury that developed over the apparent lack of qualifications of Michael D. Brown, the director, and others in the Federal Emergency Management Agency who were called on to deal with the calamity caused by Hurricane Katrina. Day after day, Democratic lawmakers have begun aggressively challenging the credentials of people President Bush wants to place in midlevel government positions.
The homeland security chairwoman, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, says she now wants to inquire further into the qualifications of Julie L. Myers to be assistant secretary of homeland security for immigration and customs enforcement.
And Myers isn’t the only administration official with quesitonable credentials (aside, of course, from the recently departed FEMA administrator Michael Brown).
At the same time, the Center for American Progress, a research institute for out-of-office Democratic policy experts, has questioned whether Andrew B. Maner is qualified for his position as chief financial officer of the Homeland Security Department, which has a budget of about $35 billion and more than 180,000 employees. Mr. Maner’s main government experience before joining this administration was a job in the White House press office under the first President Bush.
The questions of credentials are not limited to homeland security. For example, the main experience of Brian D. Montgomery, who in June became assistant secretary for housing and federal housing commissioner, was performing advance work in the Bush presidential campaign of 2000 and in the current administration’s first term.
Mr. Montgomery’s responsibilities now include overseeing the $500 billion Federal Housing Administration insurance portfolio. His background in housing is limited to a few years as communications director of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
There is nothing conservative about appointing underqualified people to important positions. Cronyism, whether it comes from the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, is a danger to the country and must not be allowed to continue.
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