TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/073189/07318900.029

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 5KB | 92 lines

NATION, Page 17

Picking Lemons for the Plums?

Bush selects some rich but unqualified ambassadors


    One of the choicest plums in Government is a diplomatic posting
in an agreeable locale. And what a pleasant task it is for a new
President to reward old friends and fat-cat party contributors by
handing out such assignments. Judging from the appointments he made
during his first six months in the White House, George Bush must
be finding that task very pleasant indeed. A study by Government
Executive magazine, a journal serving public officials, found that
of Bush's first 37 ambassadorial nominations, 70% have been
political appointees rather than career Foreign Service officers.
That compares with 59% for Ronald Reagan at the same point in his
first term and 42% for Jimmy Carter.

    Federal law requires that ambassadors "should possess clearly
demonstrated competence," including knowledge of the language,
history and culture of the country where they will serve. Several
of Bush's diplomatic picks appear to know next to nothing about the
countries to which they are being sent. What they have shown is a
deep loyalty to Republican Party causes and, in many cases, the
wherewithal to prove that loyalty with cash. Among them:

    Joy Silverman, Ambassador-designate to Barbados and seven other
Caribbean islands, has no college degree and no job history. In the
statement of qualifications she submitted to the Senate, she cited
her experience "planning and hosting corporate functions" for her
husband, a New York City industrialist. In 1987-88 she donated more
than $180,000 to Republican candidates.

    Former Nevada Senator Chic Hecht, 60, who has been nominated
as Ambassador to the Bahamas, was more noted for his malapropisms
than for any legislative accomplishment during his single term on
Capitol Hill. Hecht once declared that he opposed a "nuclear-waste
suppository" in his state. In his list of qualifications, he noted
that the "life-style of the Bahamas is similar to the life-style
of Las Vegas, Nev."

    Peter Secchia, 52, a former Republican national committeeman
from Michigan, was narrowly confirmed last month as Ambassador to
Italy despite press reports alleging frequent profanity and crude
behavior toward women. Before arriving in Rome, he endeared himself
to his future hosts by joking that the new Italian navy boasts
glass-bottom boats "so they can see the old Italian navy."

    Florida real estate developer Melvin Sembler, 59, has been
nominated as envoy to Australia, and his sometime partner Joseph
Zappala, 56, is proposed for Spain. Both are members of Team 100,
a roster of G.O.P. contributors who gave more than $100,000 to
party causes in the past year. On his qualifications form, under
the heading "Languages Spoken," Sembler listed "English (fluent)."

    In many foreign capitals, official reaction to Bush's new
ambassadors is diplomatically neutral. But privately, there is
plenty of hand wringing and even some scorn. Secchia, says a senior
Italian official, is "a very nice man, but he doesn't know
anything." The Bahamas, says a source close to the government,
tried to dissuade the U.S. from naming Hecht as Ambassador, but now
that he has been selected "there ain't nothing much you can do,
just grin and bear it." And although Australian Prime Minister Bob
Hawke went out of his way to praise nominee Sembler, his choice of
words was less than stirring. Sembler "has taken great pains in
recent weeks," said Hawke, "to acquaint himself with Australia."

    Sensing political advantage, Senate Democrats are holding up
the confirmations of several Bush nominees. Republicans argue that
the Democratic objections are hypocritical. "Every four years the
out party says the ambassadors aren't qualified," comments a Bush
foreign policy aide. During confirmation hearings last week on the
nomination of Joseph Gildenhorn as Ambassador to Switzerland,
Minnesota Republican Rudy Boschwitz huffed that being rich enough
to make hefty political contributions should not disqualify a
candidate but should be regarded as "a sign of considerable
achievement." By that standard, Gildenhorn is well suited for an
embassy job. Though the American Academy of Diplomacy, a group of
former diplomats, has rated him unqualified, the Washington real
estate developer and his family have coughed up $230,000 for G.O.P.
campaigns since 1984.

    Many Senators are openly predicting the defeat of at least one
nominee: Frederick Bush, Ambassador-designate to Luxembourg. No
relation to the President, Bush served as the Vice President's
deputy chief of staff in the Reagan Administration. He has been
accused of using his connections to garner some $600,000 in
HUD-related consulting fees. In an appearance last month before a
House subcommittee, Bush recanted earlier sworn testimony in which
he claimed that he barely knew the former HUD officials suspected
of handing out federal housing contracts to well-connected
Republicans. "I would guess it might be a while before he goes to
Luxembourg," says Senate G.O.P. leader Robert Dole. "And then it
might be just as a visitor." It may be that other Bush appointees
will have to do their traveling as regular tourists too.