Bush Faithful Rewarded With Jobs - On the Way Out, He Placed Aides and Big-Money GOP Donors

[Turborama]

Source: Washington Post

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Fred F. Fielding, Emmet T. Flood, William A. Burck and Daniel M. Price worked together at the White House under George W. Bush. Less than two weeks before leaving office, Bush made sure the senior aides shared a new assignment, naming them to an obscure World Bank agency called the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

The appointments are for six years and are potentially lucrative, paying up to $3,000 a day plus travel and other expenses if an appointee is chosen to hear a case. Bush also named two other prominent Republican lawyers to the agency, which attempts to broker international finance disagreements.

Bush made more than 100 such end-of-term appointments to a constellation of presidential boards and panels, such as the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and the U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Commission. Like other presidents, he often turned to close aides and top political supporters to fill the last-minute postings, many of which will outlast President Obama's current term.

Nearly half of Bush's appointments after Election Day were filled by donors who gave a total of nearly $1.9 million to Republicans since 2003, according to an analysis of the postings. At least 20 of the positions were filled by former Bush aides, plus others filled by old hands from the administrations of Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/09/AR2009020902519.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[MrSlayer]

1. No surprise there.

His Presidency was the ultimate in "pay to play."

[opihimoimoi]

2. Cronyism and Bush goes together like flies on shit

[grannie4peace]

3. you've got an amen on that statement!!!!

[Thor_MN]

4. Time for some spending cuts....

Rethugs are always bemoaning spending during Democratic admins, I think we can oblige them by starting here...

[ixion]

5. we need to eliminate stupid "agencies" such as this, not raise taxes

There are literally thousands of these types of backwater agencies where people take home a nice, fat paycheck for not doing squat.

That type of crap simply must end.

[pimpbot]

6. Polar bear commission!!!

"Awwwwwwwwwww, bear tax! Let the bears pay the bear tax, I pay the homer tax." - Homer Simpson

[midnight]

7. Wonder why Gonzales can't find a job with one of these folks?

[seafan]

8. For future reference, we should keep an eye on these people, especially certain individuals.

Bush Faithful Rewarded With Jobs, February 10, 2009

.....

Bush made more than 100 such end-of-term appointments to a constellation of presidential boards and panels, such as the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and the U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Commission. Like other presidents, he often turned to close aides and top political supporters to fill the last-minute postings, many of which will outlast President Obama's current term.

.....

Here is a partial list from early January, 2009:


Bush Makes More Last-Minute Appointments

January 7, 2009

President Bush appointed a total of 47 people to serve in his almost-finished administration yesterday, the latest wave of last-minute appointments to relatively obscure agencies.

Outgoing chief of staff Joshua B. Bolten, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and top Republican donor Sanford Gottesman all earned five-year terms on the Holocaust Memorial Council, which oversees the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Several sports stars will serve out the remainder of two-year terms on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, including NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte, former New York Giants player Jason Sehorn, Chicago Fire soccer player Diego Gutierrez and figure skater Michelle Kwan.

The president also named two acting administrators to serve until permanent administrators are named by Barack Obama. Lynne A. Osmus will serve as acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration starting on Jan. 16, while Susan E. Dudley will serve as acting administrator of the office of information and regulatory affairs at the Office of Management and Budget.

The official White House news release with the full list of names and appointments is after the jump.



THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

January 6, 2009

President George W. Bush today announced his intention to appoint 45 individuals and designate two individuals to serve in his Administration.

The President intends to appoint Robert D. McCallum, Jr., of Georgia, to be a Member of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarships Board, for the remainder of a three-year term expiring 09/22/10.

The President intends to appoint Martin Faga, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Public Interest Declassification Board, for the remainder of a three-year term expiring 10/03/11.


The President intends to appoint the following to be Members of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, for six-year terms expiring 06/19/14:

Panel of Conciliators:

James C. Boggs, of Virginia;

William Burck, of New York;

Ronald A. Cass, of Virginia;

Emmet Flood, of Maryland.


Panel of Arbitrators:

Fred F. Fielding, of Virginia;

Daniel M. Price, of Maryland.



The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the Board of Directors of the Valles Caldera Trust:

Raymond Loretto, of New Mexico, (State or Local Government Representative in New Mexico), for a four-year term beginning 01/17/09;

Virgil Trujillo, of New Mexico, (Livestock Management Representative), for a four-year term beginning 01/17/09.



The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, for the remainder of two-year terms expiring 05/03/10:

David Allen Josserand, of Florida, and upon appointment designate Chairman;

Kirk M. Bauer, of Maryland, and upon appointment designate Vice Chairman;

Steven Bornstein, of California;

Susan Lieberman Dell, of Texas;

Allyson Felix, of California;

Susan Finn, of Ohio;

Diego Gutierrez, of Illinois;

James W. Holsinger, of Kentucky;

Michelle Kwan, of California;

Robert A. Labonte, of North Carolina;

Edward R. Laskowski, of Minnesota;

Elisha Nelson Manning, of Louisiana;

David W. Marsh, of Alabama;

Leslie E. Miles, of Louisiana;

Omar Minaya, of New Jersey;

Richard F. Phelps, of Indiana;

Ruth Riley, of Florida;

Jason Sehorn, of California.


The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council:

Elliot Abrams, of Virginia, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09;

Joshua B. Bolten, of the District of Columbia, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09;

Alan I. Casden, of California, for the remainder of a five-year term expiring 01/15/11;

Michael Chertoff, of New Jersey, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09;

William Danhof, of Michigan, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09;

Sanford Gottesman, of Texas, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09;

Cheryl Feldman Halpern, of New Jersey, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09,;

. David Heller, of Ohio, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09;

Amy Kaslow, of Maryland, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09;

M. Ronald Krongold, of Florida, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09;

Michael B. Mukasey, of New York, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09;

Daniel Silva, of the District of Columbia, for a five-year term beginning 01/16/09.


The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science, for the remainder of a three-year term expiring 12/31/11:

Sally K. Mason, of New Jersey;

Robert Y. Moore, of Pennsylvania;

Henry Yang, of California.


The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, for the remainder of four-year terms expiring 12/03/12:

Nancy Ann Starnes, of Virginia, (Individual with a Disability);

Hans A. Van Winkle, of Texas.


The President intends to designate Lynne A. Osmus, of Virginia, to be Acting Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, to become effective January 16, 2009.

The President intends to designate Susan E. Dudley, of Virginia, to be Acting Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget.

[sakabatou]

9. I see this on the Top 10

under cronyism.

[sofa king]

10. Interesting that he buried them in the World Bank.

Same place he put the unqualified Paul Wolfowitz, a place which moves massive amounts of money without transparency and with very limited external oversight.

I wonder if there is perhaps another motivation to place such people in such a position....