Kerry shakes things up at the SFRC

[Mass]

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/02/12/kerry_shakes_things_up_at_the_sfrc


Here is a long article about the changes Kerry is making to the SFRC, starting by the round tables (from what I have read in other places, it seems to be well liked, though it would seem Lugar does not like them, the hiring of Franz,of an expert in international finances, the usual comment about this not being Kerry's first choice for a position, and nice comments from staffers and Senator Casey.

en. John Kerry (D-MA) is shaking things up.

The new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has revived a tradition once started by Senator Fulbright, holding regular round tables with policy and regional experts, at which senators and invited experts sit around a table and have discussions with each other, rather than the more formal, traditional hearings formats. He has hired a top investigative journalist to lead the committee's investigations arm, and a former investment banker to advise the committee on the intersection of global finance and foreign policy. And this past Wednesday night, he and his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry had committee members of both parties and their spouses over for dinner at their Georgetown home.

The round tables -- there have been ones on Afghanistan, Sudan, and how the international financial crisis affects U.S. foreign policy already the past couple weeks -- "are done to really create a non-adversarial environment where senators come from behind the dais and sit with the witnesses/guests and participate in more of a dialogue as opposed to the inquisition style that is traditional in hearings," says committee spokesman Frederick Jones.

"I think Sen. Kerry wants to give and take ... and it's a format that helps engender free-flowing dialogue," Jones added. (Democratic sources said vice chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN) didn't show up to the first round table on Afghanistan, and said Lugar didn't seem fond of the new format. A call to his spokesman wasn't immediately returned).

...


Last week, the committee assigned senators to head up regional subcommittees. Among the new assignments, Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA) is heading up the subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia; Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) is heading the subcommittee on East Asia, a long-time passion of his; and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is heading up a new subcommittee on global women's issues, an interest of hers and of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Senator Casey, who is planning his subcommittee's first hearing on the recent violence in Sri Lanka Feb. 24, envisions a robust agenda for the year, including hearings on Iran, Pakistan, Iraqi refugees, and the nuclear programs in the Gulf states.

...
require a lot of vigilance, whether in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, the Middle East."

Regarding Kerry's chairmanship of the committee, Casey said he was "very excited. He's an ideal successor" to former SFRC chairman Joseph Biden.

...

[Luftmensch067]

1. Nice article, thanks for posting!

Love the last line... :-)

[TayTay]

3. So, do I. Because it's so true.

"He's been great," one staffer said. "However this all plays out, he's a really classy guy."

[karynnj]

2. This really is a very nice article

It really does contain a lot of new detail that I hadn't seen before. It is interesting that Fullbright had the same roundtables. Kerry really does seem to be making the committee more dynamic, useful, and covering a broader agenda. It is impressive that he has restructured things so profoundly and moved into areas - such as international finance and investigations. Even with all this, the author still adds "seems" before putting aside resentments. But the discussion at the end about how he has acted towards staffers still hoping for administration jobs was very very nice and it ends with what has likely been said more of Kerry than any other politician I can think of - he's a very classy guy.

It was great that he and Teresa had all the committee and spouses to their house.

[ladym55]

4. It's so nice to have the grown-ups in charge

Biden did a good job, but he was still stuck working with Bushco. Kerry is off to a great start ... showing his usual class and intelligence ... and he, too, is reaching across the aisle. At some point, it has to start making some inroads with the grown-ups in the Republican Party. I keep hoping a few still exist, although Senator Lugar doesn't offer much promise there, does he?

[Inuca]

5. Lugar IS a grown-up

I don't think that too much should be read into his reluctance with the round-table format (if that's what you were alluding to). He is an old man, set in his ways like most older people, and has had a leadership role in the SFRC for a short eterniy.

[karynnj]

6. Senator Lugar actually did a very good job as the chair

He is an internationalist and, at a time when few Democrats dared speak of oil influencing our middle east policy, he held two hearings on the role oil played. http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2006/hrg060330a.html http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2006/hrg060607a.html He also ran a very fair committee, other than one atrocious hearing on Bolton. In addition, he was extremely fair to Democrats who were asking good questions - often telling, especially Kerry, that they should continue - later thanking him at his conclusion and saying that he let him go over because the questioning was productive.

I actually thought he ran the committee better than Biden did, though I liked Biden's policies better. Biden was too prone to cutting people off - especially Kerry and Obama, who he saw as rivals until Kerry dropped out. He also felt it necessary to go on and on restating everything after each Senator - all of whom had been warned that time was short. Biden is a nice guy and he is a foreign policy expert, but he was not the best chair ever.

This is my opinion from watching nearly every hearing. I know many will sharply disagree.

[Inuca]

7. Replying just to express my envy

that you can watch so many hearings :-). I am typically limited to whatever CSPAN in their magnanimity decides to re-run at night.

And I genereally agree with your characterization of Lugar. Unfortunately for me, my very first exposure to him as chair was during the Bolton meeting when he was forcing a vote. He seemed mightly embarassed by what he was doing but adamant in doing it nevertheless. I remember Kerry's outrage and expression of disbelief at the time. Now that I know much more about Lugar I understand where the disbelief was coming from.

[MBS]

8. especially nice to see this kind of press from a crowd of

people who presumably know what they're talking about. I get disappointed when I see how often Kerry is left off the list of people when there are articles about the Obama administration.. but articles like this one matter more.
Thanks for posting this.