President Bush has given Sam Fox a recess appointment as ambassador to
Belgium. The president withdrew the nomination last week after Democrats
on
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee made clear that they would not
allow it
to advance to the floor, where he presumably would have been confirmed. At
least two Democrats, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Claire McCaskill of
Missouri, had said they sup****ted Fox.
Committee Dems united behind John Kerry, who once served in Vietnam
(unlike
Barack Obama!), who was bitter because Fox had donated money to the Swift
Boat
Veterans for Truth, which in 2004 rebutted Kerry's claim to have been a
war
hero in Vietnam. Wa****ngton Post blogress Mary Ann Akers re****ts that the
Democrats are hoping to run Fox out of Brussels anyway:
To fight the Fox appointment, Democrats are questioning the
Bush administration's plan to have Fox serve in a voluntary
capacity--receiving no pay for his duties as ambassador.
This is an im****tant legal technicality, as federal law
prohibits "payment of services" for certain recess appointments.
However, if the recess appointee in question agrees that he
or she will take an unpaid position and not sue the government
at a later date for compensation, then the appointment can
go forward, at least as the White House sees it. . . .
But here's the rub that makes Democrats view Bush's recess
appointment of Fox as a major-league no-no: Federal law
prohibits "voluntary service" in cases where the position
in question has a fixed rate of pay, as an ambassador****p
does. That's how the Government Accountability Office, an
arm of the Democratic-controlled Congress, interprets the
law.
In other words, according to senior Democratic Senate aides,
the salary is a "statutory entitlement" and cannot be waived. . . .
"How to reconcile this clear conflict between the pay
restriction, which says that Fox cannot be paid, with the
voluntary services provision, which says that the State
Department cannot accept voluntary services from Fox?" queried
one senior Democratic aide who asked for anonymity to speak
frankly about the matter.
It's good to know that the Democrats in Congress are so concerned with the
serious problems facing the country. Sorry, we mean facing Jenny
Ballantine.
--
"You know, education--if you make the most of it, you study hard, you
do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do
well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
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