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Bush appoints bolton during senate recess { August 1 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/01/politics/01cnd-bolton.html?hphttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/01/politics/01cnd-bolton.html?hp
August 1, 2005
Bush Appoints Bolton as U.N. Envoy, Bypassing Senate
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 - President Bush bypassed the Senate and installed John R. Bolton as his ambassador to the United Nations today over strong Democratic objections that he was abusing power and undermining the credibility of the United States.
In a brief announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Mr. Bush said he was forced to act because the United States had gone for more than six months without an ambassador to the United Nations, which is to convene its General Assembly in September. It was the first time since the United Nations' founding in 1945 that the United States has filled that appointment using a backdoor procedure called a recess appointment.
The appointment brought to a close a five-month stand-off between the White House and Senate Democrats, who had held up Mr. Bolton's confirmation over accusations that the had manipulated intelligence to conform to his hawkish ideology and had bullied subordinates.
Mr. Bolton, who is a protégé of Vice President Dick Cheney, is known as being combative and outspoken. "This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about U.N. reform," Mr. Bush said, as Mr. Bolton stood to his right and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to his left.
The president said he was sending Mr. Bolton to New York with "complete confidence." He praised him as a man who "believes passionately in the goals of the United Nations Charter, to advance peace and liberty and human rights." Mr. Bolton would remain in the job until the end of the current Congress in late 2006.
Senior administration officials said that there had been some misgivings within their ranks about naming Mr. Bolton by recess appointment because he would be seen as weakened by months of battering in Congress and a tenure of less than a year and a half on the job. But other officials said Mr. Bush was determined to stand up to Congress and make a show of force on Mr. Bolton, a favorite of conservatives. The president's comment that he was sending Mr. Bolton to New York with "complete confidence" was a signal, the officials said, that Mr. Bolton had the full support of the White House.
Mr. Bolton was sworn into office shortly after Mr. Bush's announcement and arrived in New York this afternoon.
Secretary General Kofi Annan welcomed Mr. Bolton to the United Nations, but told reporters that Mr. Bolton should consult with others as the Bush administration continues to press for changes at the United Nations. "I think it is all right for one ambassador to come and push, but an ambassador always has to remember that there are 190 others who will have to be convinced - or a vast majority of them - for action to take place," Mr. Annan said.
Mr. Bolton begins the job as the Bush the administration is threatening to take Iran to the Security Council for possible punishment if the country moves forward with its nuclear program. Mr. Bolton, the former undersecretary of state for arms control, took an exceptionally hard line against nuclear proliferation by countries like Iran and North Korea, but administration officials have said that as ambassador to the United Nations he will carry out the views of Mr. Bush and Ms. Rice and not make his own policy.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, characterized Mr. Bush's move as "the latest abuse of power by the Bush White House," while another Democrat, Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, said in a statement that "even while the president preaches democracy around the world, he bends the rules and circumvents the will of Congress" at home.
Democrats were also angry about the refusal of the White House to turn over documents related to Mr. Bolton's service at the State Department as well as his caustic comments about the United Nations. In the 1990's, Mr. Bolton said that several floors of the United Nations headquarters could be lopped off without being missed.
In his remarks, Mr. Bush blamed the hold-up on "partisan delaying tactics by a handful of senators," but Democrats countered that the handful numbered at least 42, including one Republican. "And it was growing," said Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, who led the Senate opposition to Mr. Bolton. "It may have been more people if we had ever gotten a vote."
Senator George V. Voinovich, the Ohio Republican whose opposition to Mr. Bolton was the catalyst for the Senate's refusal to confirm him, told reporters that he intended to send Mr. Bolton a copy of a Christian book that has served him well since his days as mayor of Cleveland in the 1980's: "The Heart and Soul of Effective Management" by James F. Hind.
"It's basically a Christian approach to managing and motivating people," Mr. Voinovich said, "that I thought he might read and perhaps ponder and take into consideration in terms of how he treats people up at the United Nations."
Still, Democratic aides on Capitol Hill acknowledged that there was little their party could do beyond criticizing Mr. Bolton's appointment, which senators did in statements of outrage that were sent via e-mail to reporters even as Mr. Bush was still speaking in the Roosevelt Room. By 10:04 a.m., three minutes after Mr. Bush began his remarks, Senator Edward M. Kennedy had sent out a statement that called the recess appointment "a devious maneuver" that "further darkens the cloud over Mr. Bolton's credibility at the U.N."
Mr. Bolton's appointment came as Democrats on Capitol Hill were in a new fight with the White House over the records of Mr. Bush's Supreme Court nominee, Judge John G. Roberts, when he worked in the office of the solicitor general. But Democrats, wary that their anger over Mr. Bolton might be seen as retaliation against Judge Roberts, said that the two nominations were distinct and that they did not expect Mr. Bolton's troubles with the Senate to affect Judge Roberts' confirmation hearings in September.
Administration officials had signaled for weeks that Mr. Bush would name Mr. Bolton to the post with a recess appointment, a procedure that permits the president to fill vacant positions when the Senate is in recess, as it is during August. Mr. Bolton is by far the highest-ranking of the 106 people that Mr. Bush has named by recess appointment during his five and a half years in office.
Among them are Otto J. Reich, the strongly anti-Communist assistant secretary of state for Latin American affairs, who was named by Mr. Bush in January 2002 and served only until the end of Congress that year. Mr. Bush also used a recess appointment to name Charles W. Pickering Sr. to a federal appeals court in January 2004. Judge Pickering, whose nomination was twice blocked by the Senate, retired when his appointment expired last December.
President Bill Clinton had 140 recess appointments during his two terms, including Mickey Kantor, who was named commerce secretary after Ronald H. Brown died in a plane crash in 1996.
In remarks at Mr. Bush's side, Mr. Bolton said the United States was seeking in the United Nations "a stronger, more effective organization, true to the ideals of its founders and agile enough to act in the 21st century."
Mr. Bolton, who had tears in his eyes when Mr. Bush mentioned that Mr. Bolton was a firefighter's son, said he was "profoundly honored, indeed, humbled" by the appointment.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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