This was a story that seemed to slip through the cracks of a very busy week last week, but my friend Poppy reminded me that it’s a story that warrants additional attention.
Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) may not agree on much, but both have been involved with White House negotiations over various nominations to government posts. Both have also seen agreements reached in good faith that that Bush White House has failed to keep. When Daschle complains about it, no one’s surprised and the media chalks it up to partisanship. Now, however, even Lott is fed up.
Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) criticized the White House on Wednesday for refusing to accept a bipartisan deal that would clear the way for a new batch of nominations to be approved by the Senate before Congress halts legislative business until after the November elections.
Administration officials are holding up the deal over their opposition to a Democrat recommended by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) to a federal commission, said Lott, who refused to reveal the disputed individual’s name or the commission that person would serve on.
However, several sources said the White House opposes the reappointment of Securities and Exchange Commissioner Harvey Goldschmid, who joined the commission in 2002 and has been an outspoken advocate for investors. A professor at Columbia University School of Law prior to joining the SEC, Goldschmid’s term expired in June of this year. A federal statute allows Goldschmid to remain as an SEC commissioner until next year, unless another person is confirmed to fill his slot.
While Lott was adamant about not naming the nominee in question, he did indicate that the fate of as many as 50 Republican nominees hinged on whether an agreement could be reached on this deal.
“It is a list that Senator Daschle has been very good working with us to come up with,” said Lott, as he brandished several sheets of paper with the names of the nominees being considered for approval. “Unfortunately it looks like the White House is going to blow it. “I think it is very short-sighted,” he added.
Be still my heart. Trent Lott is watching a conflict unfold between Bush and Daschle — and he’s taking Daschle’s side.
While Lott certainly doesn’t agree with the Dems blocking a handful of Bush judicial nominees, he’s frustrated with the way in which the White House has approached the entire nominating process.
One such person in limbo is a former Daschle aide, Jonathan Adelstein, who joined the Federal Communications Commission in 2002 and needs the Senate to confirm him to a new term to continue serving on the commission. Lott, who initially blocked Adelstein’s appointment as retribution for Democrats’ treatment of his close friend Mississippi judge Charles Pickering, said he supports approving the former Daschle aide for an additional term.
“I think what the White House has done on Jonathan Adelstein in indefensible,” Lott said. “The fact that they haven’t sent the papers and held him up. Why? Maybe it has to do with South Dakota politics. The problem I have, and maybe that is why I am where I am and not where I was, is I feel the best politics is good government.”
Lott realizes, as we all should, that Bush wants to use the nominating process to influence the Senate race in South Dakota. It’s an absurd way to run the government, and apparently, even Trent Lott isn’t afraid to say so.
As Poppy’s mentioned, this story should be getting bigger play. It seems to have a lot of fun political angles: “Presidential hypocrisy, intra-party attacks, campaign flip-flopping, double dealing, dirty politics, etc.” Stay tuned.