HOMELAND ABSURDITY
With Tom Ridge exiting stage left from the
troubled Homeland Security Department, another round of guessing
who will fill the slot will continue. Even before Ridge made the
announcement, it was thought that longtime Bush friend Joe
Allbaugh was in line to take over the job. Allbaugh, who
oversaw the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the early days
of the Bush Administration, but who lately has been in the private
sector, is known as a tough administrator, one who would clean up
what is considered a growing mess at DHS.
“It’s just a huge bureaucracy that people can’t seem to get
their hands around,” says a current senior DHS staffer. “I think
we’ve done the best job we can to get the various parts together
under one roof, but it hasn’t been smooth or easy. There are still
a ton of turf wars breaking out here day in and day out.”
DHS is made up of disparate agencies and offices, some of them
from other Cabinet level agencies, as well as new offices formed
when the department was created a little over two years ago. Since
then, DHS has gained a reputation inside the government as a
slow-moving bureaucracy that moves quicker when news cameras are
around.
On several occasions Ridge held news conferences with little or
nothing to report about terrorist threat levels. “It seemed like in
the past year or so they were doing things to confirm their
existence and importance in the culture of Washington,” says a
former DHS official. “It is probably a necessary department, but
until they get a lot of what they are supposed to be doing right,
they shouldn’t be out there tooting their horn. Whoever goes there
needs to settle things down.”
That kind of spotlight-stealing attitude was on full display on
Tuesday, when Ridge held a press conference to announce his
resignation. The press conference was held despite White House
requests that no such event take place, particularly since it was
scheduled at about the same time the President was holding a press
conference in Canada.
Other names mentioned include Bernard Kerik,
interim Minister of the Interior for Iraq and former New York City
police commissioner, who did yeoman’s work for the Bush campaign
during the election cycle. Kerik, like Allbaugh, would present a
get-tough attitude for DHS. But Kerik may have his eye on jobs
closer to home. Rumor has it that he is eyeing the New Jersey
gubernatorial race as an option, although others who know him have
said in the past several days he seemed confident that the DHS job
was his to lose when Ridge made the leap into the private
sector.
WON’T YOU COME HOME, KAY BAILEY…
Look for word to begin leaking out about Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison’s political plans in the coming days. Hutchison
has almost $7 million in a federal campaign account that can be
used to finance a campaign for statewide office in Texas.
There is a growing speculation that Hutchison wants out of the
Senate and into the governor’s mansion in Austin.
Current Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who in
early 2004 spent extensive time in Washington attempting to raise
his political visibility and national fundraising appeal, is
expected to run for re-election. Hutchison, though, is popular in
the state, and in some quarters more popular than Perry.
Hutchison’s political ambitions already have some on Capitol
Hill talking about her as a possible vice presidential contender on
a Republican ticket in 2008.
DEM DILEMMA
The Florida state Democratic delegation met in Tallahassee on
Monday to try to figure out how best to get back into the political
game in the 2006 election cycle, this, after seeing their party
fall further behind in both the Florida house and senate in the
2004 elections.
According to one attendee, a small minority in the meeting of
about 70 state Democratic officials insisted that the winning
strategy was to speak openly about their Democratic values:
pro-abortion and pro-labor, for example.
But that idea was quickly shot down by a decision to hire
political consultants in the coming weeks to develop and test
political and issues positions that play well with Florida
independents.
The consultants will be hired at a cost of more than $2 million.
“It’s probably money well spent,” says a Republican Florida House
member. “Now Democrats can finally find out what they believe
in.”
