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White House may not see Peter Kirsanow formally take his seat on
the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights until the courts slap down
chairwoman
Mary Frances Berry's illegal attempt to keep him from it. Yet
there's plenty President Bush can do in the meantime to assume greater
control of the commission, as is his right by virtue of the office
he holds. He should start by firing staff director Les Jin.
Jin runs the
day-to-day operations of the commission. He should be removed from
the position if only because he's a holdover from the Clinton administration,
having been appointed to the post in September 2000. Bush deserves
to have his own person in this important slot, as does any president.
When President Clinton came into office in 1993, the first Bush
administration's staff director, Willie Gonzalez, was shown the
door almost immediately. This was Clinton's right.
The case for
replacing Jin goes beyond his being a holdover. He's a shameless
hack for Berry. He is afraid to challenge her, even when she behaves
lawlessly, as in the current dispute over the commission's makeup.
He also refuses to work with the commission's GOP-appointed members.
He doesn't let them participate in selecting witnesses to appear
at commission hearings, he won't take their names off press releases
when they disagree with their content, and he was instrumental in
the suppression of the dissent written by commissioners Abigail
Thernstrom and Russell Redenbaugh in response to the commission's
scandalously bad report on the presidential election in Florida.
There are also questions about his handling of the commission's
budget.
A new staff
director at the civil-rights commission would have to be approved
by a majority of the commissioners, and no person named to the post
is likely survive such a vote as long as Berry keeps rightful commissioners,
such as Kirsanow, from assuming their duties. But Bush can appoint
an acting staff director — and deprive Berry of a vital bureaucratic
tool in her guerilla war against his very legitimacy as president.
Armey's Army
In
what has become a season of farewells for conservative legislators,
House majority leader Dick Armey made it official that he will not
be running for reelection. The announcement came after similar ones
by Jesse Helms and then Phil Gramm. This trio of retirements seems
to mark a definitive end to an era of crusading conservatism.
We won't summarize Armey's achievements in Congress, since Paul
Gigot has already done the job nicely.
One point worth
mentioning is that Armey always had one of the best-staffed offices
on Capitol Hill. Look at the resumes of the most talented and effective
conservatives in Washington, and you'll often find a stint with
Armey. Ed Gillespie, a top Republican strategist and lobbyist, was
Armey's press secretary. So was Michele Davis, who's now doing the
same job for Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill. The White House liaison
to Treasury, meanwhile, is April Lehman, another Armey alumna.
David Hobbs
is managing the White House's relations with the House. Jim Wilkinson
is a top aide to Karen Hughes. Kerry Knott has helped Microsoft
defend its freedom to innovate. Dennis Stephens lobbies for conservative
causes at Preston Gates. Mike Franc runs federal affairs at the
Heritage Foundation. Dina Powell is the associate director of presidential
personnel. Kevin Washington is the Labor Department's liaison to
Congress. Dean Clancy is going to be staff director for the president's
new bioethics commission, and Horace Cooper will be his counterpart
at the Voice of America. These people, and many others, constitute
Armey's legacy in Washington as much as any bills do.
Elsewhere
on the Site
John
J. Miller on Mary Frances Berry's best friend in the press.
Ramesh
Ponnuru on Time's favorite terrorist.
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