*Good Thing All's Quiet at Treasury These Days* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/01/AR2009030101747.html?sub=AR
By Al Kamen <http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/al+kamen/> Monday, March 2, 2009; Page A15 Former Fed chief *Paul Volcker* last week called the personnel situation at the Treasury Department "shameful." "The secretary of the Treasury is sitting there without a deputy, without any undersecretaries, without any, as far as I know, assistant secretaries," Volcker said, "at a time of very severe crisis." *President Obama*'s press secretary, *Robert Gibbs*, asked by a reporter for comment, said he "wouldn't quite agree with everything that our friend Mr. Volcker said," adding: "I don't think that the secretary is alone at the Treasury Department. I think there are many able people assisting him." Maybe so, but Secretary *Timothy F. Geithner* still does not have a deputy or Senate-confirmed undersecretaries or assistant secretaries to help him. And it's not because the Senate has been going at its traditional, snail-like pace confirming people. (That will be, as sure as night follows day, a problem down the road.) The fact is, the White House has sent no nominations to the Senate for any of those positions. And the problem, as Volcker also noted, is a severe case of Daschle-itis -- with a strong dose of Geithner-itis -- that has sparked an intense spate of re-vetting of potential nominees. We've heard the process compared to some rather unpleasant medical procedures. According to one estimate, as many as a third of potential nominees were found to have had some tax questions to answer. During February, after its breakneck pace through January, the Obama White House formally nominated only six people and announced its intention to nominate 15 others, according to a data analysis by our colleague *Sarah Cohen* in cooperation with the New York University Wagner School of Public Service's Presidential Transition Project. (This count doesn't reflect White House intentions revealed over the weekend to nominate Kansas Gov. *Kathleen Sebelius* as secretary of health and human services .) Seven Obama officials were confirmed by the Senate in February, the data show, in addition to three former Bush administration officials who are remaining in their jobs and do not require Senate confirmation. As it stands, the Obama team is still ahead of the Bush and Clinton transitions. Using a comparable set of positions, Obama has announced 65 appointments and sent 31 nominations to the Senate for confirmation. *George W. Bush* had nominated 21 people by the end of February 2001, and *Bill Clinton* had named 26 at the same point in 1993. (Obama has chosen seven additional people for jobs that are newly created or are not counted in the historical records.) *A CHOICE FOR EEOC* As we reported online Friday, it looks as if *Cassandra Q. Butts*, deputy White House counsel and former Harvard Law School classmate and close friend of the president's, is the pick to be head of the troubled Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has been beset by shrinking staff, plummeting morale and a growing backlog of job discrimination cases to investigate. Butts, a member of Obama's innermost circle, was a longtime aide to *Richard A. Gephardt* (D-Mo.) during Gephardt's days in the House, and more recently she has been a senior vice president for domestic policy at the Center for American Progress. Should she take the post, Butts would provide a much-needed spark to the 44-year-old commission, which has been seen by civil rights advocates as something of a castoff in recent years. She also would trade a view of the well-manicured South Lawn and the cuisine of the White House mess for a view of stop-and-go New York Avenue and value meals at the nearby Wendy's. *A TOP AIDE FOR PANETTA* CIA Director *Leon Panetta* has made *Jeremy B. Bash* his chief of staff. Bash has been the chief counsel of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, first under Rep. *Jane Harman* (Calif.) when she was the ranking Democrat and more recently under Chairman Rep. *Silvestre Reyes*(D-Tex.). The main part of Bash's committee portfolio was the CIA. He also worked on the Obama transition's intelligence team and helped steer Panetta through the confirmation process. Bash, like Obama and so many others in the administration, is part of the Harvard Law School mafia. *MOVING IN . . .* Interior Secretary *Ken Salazar* last week announced his top spinmeisters: *Betsy Hildebrandt*, most recently senior manager for technology marketing and communication at Accenture, is to be his director of communications, and *Kendra Barkoff*, former media coordinator for Sen. *Richard J. Durbin* (D-Ill.) and more recently press secretary for Sen. *Robert P. Casey Jr.* (D-Pa.), to be press secretary. There's also chatter that Salazar is moving to fill key positions at the department. Some names floating include *Lucy Blake*, former director of the California League of Conservation Voters and former president of the Sierra Business Council, to be assistant secretary for land and minerals; *Mike King*, deputy director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and former state assistant attorney general, to be director of the Bureau of Land Management; and, *Anne Castle*, a Denver lawyer specializing in water issues, to be assistant secretary for water and science. *MOVING ON . . .* Top Bush administration official *Sean McCormack*, who had been assistant secretary of state for public affairs and the State Department's chief spokesman and before that the chief spokesman for the National Security Council, has found a new perch as vice president for communications at Boeing. *Sean M. Spicer*, former communications director of the House Budget Committee and then of the House Republican Conference and more recently assistant U.S. trade representative for media and public affairs, has launched a PR and strategy firm, Endeavour Global Strategies. *Mike Sheehy*, national security adviser to House Speaker *Nancy Pelosi*(D-Calif.) and 30-year House veteran, is off to work in the private sector. Pelosi's new national security adviser will be *Wyndee R. Parker*, now deputy staff director and general counsel for the House intelligence committee. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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