Checkbook Diplomacy - Part Three (cont.)
In 1980, toward the end of Carter’s term, Congress did pass the Foreign Service Act to try to shore up the credentials of those appointed to go abroad. It decrees that candidates for ambassadorships should possess knowledge of the language of the host country, as well as an understanding of its economic and political institutions and culture, history, and people. Furthermore, the law says, ambassadors should “normally” be chosen from the Foreign Service, and “contributions to political campaigns should not be a factor” in their selection.
This rule apparently has been applied religiously for ambassadorships to out-of-the-way countries like Guinea or Burma, but when it comes to choice postings in Europe, in English-speaking countries, or in warm, safe, island nations, well, those posts have been reserved almost exclusively for friends and supporters of the president. In fact, when President George H. W. Bush appointed Raymond G.H. Seitz as ambassador to Britain in 1991, it was the first (and only) time that a career foreign service officer — rather than a political appointee — has ever held that coveted post.
Ambassador William Farish III was dubbed so elusive that it was “probably easier to get an interview with Saddam Hussein” than with him. (Department of State)Every administration since Carter left office has had its struggles with ambassadors. The administration of the elder George Bush, hardly the most egregious, nonetheless gave Senator Sarbanes lots to work with as he turned the 1989 ambassadorial confirmation hearings into a media spectacle. In many of the official “certificates of demonstrated competence” filed with the Senate, the State Department listed campaign contributions and fundraising for at least five of Bush’s nominees — even though the Foreign Service Act states clearly that such contributions should not be a factor in any ambassadorial appointment.
In addition to Sembler, Sarbanes shone his spotlight on the nomination of Peter Secchia, a fundraiser for the Michigan Republican Party, as ambassador to Italy. A foul-mouthed lumber tycoon whom Italian newspapers dubbed the “ambassador of dirty words,” Secchia looked forward to his tenure abroad by joking: “I saw the new Italian Navy. Its boats have glass bottoms so they can see the old Italian Navy.” In 1992, Bush’s nominee to the Netherlands donated $100,000 to the Republican Party shortly before being nominated. Then, Donald H. Alexander admitted that he had made the donation — which was more than 10 times larger than the total of his contributions for the previous several years — after discovering that the guy who got the job a few years earlier had done the same thing.
One of the younger Bush’s more notable appointments was William Farish III as the ambassador to Great Britain. Farish, a Texas-born oilman who raised thoroughbred horses in Kentucky, joined with his family to donate more than $140,000 to Republicans in the 2000 election cycle. Farish took the job as a “working sabbatical” and was seldom seen during the run-up to the Iraq war. A Guardian columnist wrote that on the eve of war, “It’s probably easier to get an interview with Saddam Hussein than with William Farish.”
Bush eventually replaced Farish with Robert Tuttle, a $200,000-level fundraiser who had served in the Reagan administration but is better known as a California car dealer. As with his predecessor, Tuttle didn’t impress the British. The mayor of London called Tuttle a “venal little crook” after the U.S. embassy in London refused to pay London’s congestion charge for driving in the city, a move that caused a big stir among the British.
And the younger Bush offered the ambassadorship to Belgium to one of his biggest donors, Missouri businessman Sam Fox. Fox and his family donated $1.5 million to Republican political races between 2000 and 2007, as well as $50,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (now known as Swift Boat Vets and POWS for Truth), the independent group whose ads attacking John Kerry’s record in Vietnam were widely denounced as distortions. The ads were credited with helping to defeat Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. Kerry, who sits on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, was able to question Fox about his donations during his confirmation hearing. After Kerry’s objections to his nomination, Bush withdrew Fox’s name — and later gave him a recess appointment, sidestepping the Senate confirmation process.
Who will be rewarded with ambassadorships in an Obama or McCain presidency remains to be seen, but this much is clear: Early in 2009 a new round of the confirmation drama will begin.
Part One: The Buying of Ambassadorships
Part Two: Big egos, big donations, big status
Part Three: The system resists fixing
Listen to the BBC Radio World Service documentary The Billion Dollar Election: Part Two - Ambassadors
Stephanie Mencimer covers legal affairs and domestic policy in the Washington bureau of Mother Jones magazine and is a contributing editor at Washington Monthly. Previously, she was a senior writer at Washington City Paper, an investigative reporter for The Washington Post, and a staff writer for Legal Times. Mencimer is the author of Blocking the Courthouse Door: How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies Are Taking Away Your Right to Sue.
Sources: Helen Dewar, “Sarbanes Halts Action on Prospective Envoys,” The Washington Post, June 21, 1989; “Ambassadorial Appointments: The Congressional Debate over Qualifications and Implications for U.S. Policy,” Congressional Research Service, May 1, 1991; Jason Moody, untitled wire story, States News Service, July 7, 1989; George Hackett, “Notorious Ambassadors,” Newsweek, June 5, 1989; Charles R. Babcock, “Contribution to GOP Trips a Prospective Envoy,” The Washington Post, June 10, 1992; Stephen Moss, “The Invisible ambassador,” The Guardian, April 1, 2003; John Harris, “Ken on the Offensive,” The Guardian, June 9, 2007; Sam Hananel, “Kerry Grills Nominee Over Swift Boat,” The Associated Press, February 28, 2007; “Seven Charged, a Report and a Briefcase,” Time, March 11, 1974; “Historical Comparison: Ambassadorial (Chiefs of Mission) Appointments,” American Foreign Service Association; George Lardner Jr. and Walter Pincus, “Nixon Set Minimum Contribution for Choice Diplomatic Posts,” The Washington Post, October 30, 1997, interview with Melvin Sembler; Elaine Sciolino, “Friends as Ambassadors: How Many Is Too Many?” The New York Times, November 7, 1989; Alan C. Miller and Dwight Morris, “Donations Flood a Loophole; ‘Soft Money’ Giving to Political Parties Is on the Rise, Skirting Watergate-Era Rules Designed to End Influence Buying. Big Donors Have a Lot at Stake in Congress.” Los Angeles Times, October 11, 1992; interview with John Naland; Foreign Service Act of 1980, U.S. Department of State; “Chiefs of Mission by Country, 1778-2005: Guinea,” U.S. Department of State; “Chiefs of Mission by Country, 1778-2005: Burma,”