NEW JUDICIAL NOMINEES RANKLE DEMOCRATS
By Elana Schor

The Hill, DC
Jan 11 2007

As President Bush withdrew four contentious judicial nominees,
apparently offering an olive branch to the new Senate majority,
he resubmitted a handful of executive-branch nominations that have
angered and dismayed senior Democrats.

The White House’s acknowledgment that its withdrawn judicial picks
would face near-certain rejection in the new Congress won praise
from Democrats and their allied interest groups. But the renewal
late Tuesday of several agency nominations signals that Bush is not
backing away from confrontation with Democrats who have held up many
of the appointments and could renew their previous holds.

Several of the re-nominated officials, such as Assistant Secretary of
Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Julie
Myers and Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and
Migration Ellen Sauerbrey, already are serving in the administration
under recess appointments that allowed them to sidestep Senate
confirmation votes but expired at the end of the 109th Congress. John
Bolton, who became America’s ambassador to the United Nations following
a recess appointment, opted to step down from the post last month
rather than face a bruising Senate battle to win formal confirmation.

Steven Bradbury’s nomination to lead the Justice Department’s Office
of Legal Counsel was blocked in August by Sens. Edward Kennedy
(D-Mass.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick
Durbin (Ill.) in protest of the administration’s denial of security
clearances necessary to investigate warrantless surveillance
conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA). Though Justice
since has initiated an internal inquiry of the NSA program, Kennedy
said yesterday he wants more time for oversight before Bradbury
is considered.

"Bradbury was deeply involved in defending the president’s program,
which allowed warrantless surveillance of ordinary Americans," Kennedy
said through a spokeswoman. "We need more information and cooperation
from the administration – until then, we should not move forward on
this nomination."

Another of Bush’s resubmitted nominees, Armenian ambassador hopeful
Richard Hoagland, sparked the ire of several senior Democrats
by publicly questioning the veracity of the Armenian genocide,
a flashpoint in U.S. relations with Turkey. Sen. Robert Menendez
(D-N.J.) blocked Hoagland’s nomination last September, and Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) joined him in a post-election
request for Hoagland’s outright withdrawal.

"It would serve neither our national interests nor the U.S.-Armenia
relationship to expect ambassador-designate Hoagland to carry out
his duties under these highly contentious and profoundly troubling
circumstances," Reid and Menendez wrote to Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice on Dec. 1.

Bush also renamed Leon Sequeira, a former aide to Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), as assistant secretary for policy at
the Labor Department. Sequeira drew holds last year from Colorado
Sens. Ken Salazar (D) and Wayne Allard (R), both of whom were
concerned about an unheard petition from workers in their state
seeking compensation from Labor. The petition continues to languish,
setting the stage for another hold.

C. Boyden Gray, founder of conservative interest group Committee
for Justice, was serving as ambassador to the European Union under
a recess appointment and also resubmitted. Gray was the subject of
several reported Democratic holds in 2005 over judicial-nomination
issues that may have evaporated after this week’s withdrawal of the
four disputed nominees.

Other nominees resubmitted this week that have earned strong
Democratic disapproval include Richard Stickler, a coal-industry
executive recess-appointed as assistant secretary for mine safety
and health at the Labor Department, and Paul DeCamp as wage and hour
administrator at Labor.