Recess Appointments Irk Dems
By Phil Dobson
(WebToday, January 12, 2002)-- This past Friday President Bush appointed two conservative nominees whose appointments have been languishing in the Senate for months (both nominations were made last May). Otto Reich, who served in the Reagan administration, and Eugene Scalia, son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and a distinguished lawyer in his own right. Mr. Reich will serve as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, the chief U.S. diplomat in Latin America, and Mr. Scalia as solicitor general (the top lawyer) at the Labor Department.
The President can, as many presidents before him have, make recess appointments and put people in offices despite the lack of Senate action, or inaction as the case may be. Recess appointments last until Congress recesses again at the end of the year.
Senator Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was quick to speak out, "I continue to believe that Mr. Scalia is not the right person for this important Labor Department position. His record and experience do not reflect a commitment of the rights of America's workers." What, is there a Kennedy out of work?
Not to be out done by his colleague, Senator Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., issued a statement on Mr. Reich's appointment that read, "There are many difficulties in the region (Latin America) and it is unfortunate that U.S. foreign policy in the region is being sacrificed for a narrow domestic political agenda."
Now correct me if I'm wrong here but wasn't it their party's president who abused this Executive privilege and appointed some of the most controversial nominees in the history of this country?
These nominees, like many others, have been held up for political reasons, not because the applicants are unfit or unqualified for the positions. The only thing the democrats have against Eugene Scalia is that his father, Antonin Scalia, cast the deciding vote in the Supreme Court last year that gave George W. Bush the presidency. Which I might add has given the American people a President to be proud of once again.
And what about Otto Reich you ask? He served as the head of the State Department's one-time Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean. The office was accused of running an illegal, covert domestic propaganda effort against Nicaragua's Marxist Sandinista government.
Did you get that? The office was accused, never indicted. But if I've said it once I've said it a thousand times; conservatives are guilty until proven innocent and liberals are, well, liberals. Or as a friend of mine once put it, "Demon-crats."
Earlier in the week I had a long conversation with former Congressman Jim Rogan, the man who lead the Congress in the Clinton Impeachment proceedings, about his unanimous conformation as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. His take, and I agree, is that the Senate wanted to show that they were not playing partisan politics. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they discussed it and agreed to confirm him to this post and block the higher nominees so they could say, "Hey, we unanimously confirmed Rogan."
President Bush needs to take advantage of this Executive privilege and fill all the vacancies with good men and women, like Mr. Rogan, that share his ideology and vision before the Demon-crats return to their game of partisan politics. But hey, that's just my opinion.
You may send comments to Phil at: dobson@madcrazy.com
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