Hatching a Plot
Given that Justice David Souter made his seat
on the Supreme Court a liberal one, Republicans are raring for a
fight on principles and for political points, if not blocking a
nominee. So while Democrats prayed for a great liberal successor to
Souter, Republicans and conservatives were all about who will be
fighting for them on the Senate Judiciary Committee now that Sen.
Arlen Specter has left his
ranking seat open on the committee.
At press time, ranking Senate Finance Republican Sen.
Chuck Grassley was negotiating
with Sen. Orrin Hatch (currently the most senior
GOPer on the committee, but barred from taking the ranking slot due
to term limitations for the post), to see if the Ute would be
willing to seek a waiver from the Senate Republican Conference to
allow Hatch to take the ranking slot until the end of the 111th
congressional session.
Hatch would then step aside, giving the ranking slot to
Grassley. At that point, thanks to seniority, Hatch would take
Grassley’s empty ranking chair on the Senate Finance Committee.
“They would essentially flip ranking positions,” says an adviser to
Grassley.
What’s been overlooked is that these two old GOP warhorses are
also attempting to cut a deal that would block the younger and more
conservative Sen. Jeff Sessions from taking the
ranking Judiciary Committee seat that under complicated Senate
Republican Conference rules should be his for the upcoming
confirmation battle.
“Neither Grassley nor Hatch wants to surrender a prime ranking
committee seat to a younger man who could hold it and potentially
be chairman within the next eight years,” says a Senate Judiciary
aide. “These old dogs don’t want to go quietly.”
It may be that Grassley—who hopes to remain on Finance long
enough to see landmark health care reform legislation passed— and
Hatch will work their deal and get their colleagues’ approval, but
their actions, some believe, will have a far greater impact on the
Senate and the Republicans than either man realizes. Inside the
conference, where neither man is particularly popular, their
actions have raised quiet alarm. “Every member is looking at
Hatch’s request and Grassley’s proposed deal and wondering when it
will be their time to be in Sessions’s position, and that’s a
position they don’t want to be in,” says a senior Republican
leadership aide.
“[Hatch and Grassley] are so out of touch with the base of the
party and the grass roots that they don’t realize that by screwing
Sessions, they are creating the kind of ill will among supporters
that won’t necessarily personally hurt them politically, but will
hurt the broader party,” says a longtime conservative activist and
a board member of the American Conservative Union. “Conservatives
want a fighter in that ranking seat for a major confirmation
battle. They are tired of Republicans rolling over for Obama
nominees. Sessions would be that kind of fighter.”
At press time, Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell’s office was being inundated with calls
demanding that he step into the GOP Conference and block a
Grassley-Hatch deal. But there isn’t much McConnell can do. “He’s
not going to pick a side; that’s not what this is about,” says a
McConnell aide.
But if the outcome is anything other than Sessions sitting in
the hot seat, Republicans in the Senate may rue the day they gave
in to the “past generation” instead of the “next generation.”
Mitt’s Off
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
Romney continues to look for ways to cozy up to
conservatives in his ongoing reclamation project after many
conservatives rejected his credentials during the 2008 presidential
primary run.
Romney is believed to have committed hundreds of thousands of
his own money, as well as family foundation money, to support the
National Council for a New America, which will largely be fronted
in Washington by House Republican Whip Eric
Cantor, who is less known for policy and more for
fundraising for the party.
The group, which also has Govs. Bobby Jindal
and Haley Barbour signed on, is
expected to focus on conservative policies that can be adopted on
the state or federal levels, and to serve as a platform for almost
all of those signed on who aspire to higher national office.
Flying High and Low
Americans for Limited Government filed a Freedom of Information
Act request for all documents, including the flight manifest,
related to the Air Force One New York flyover in late April.
At least one other entity, believed to be a news outlet, filed a
FOIA request for information related to the incident. The requests
were made to determine if any Obama donors or other interested
parties were on board the flight, which caused a panic in the area
around Ground Zero and Wall Street. The suspicion that civilians—
or high-ranking White House officials— may have been on the flight
is the result, in part, of the involvement of
Louis Caldera, the Obama
administration’s director of the White House Military Office.
Caldera authorized the New York City flyover, and was brought
into the administration, say Obama donors and transition team
members, for his understanding of the Pentagon’s inner workings,
his relationship with high-powered donors with backgrounds in the
defense industry, and his ties to Bill and
Hillary Clinton and New Mexico Gov. Bill
Richardson.
Caldera served two years as Bill Clinton’s secretary of the
Army. During Caldera’s tenure at the Pentagon, his choice for
deputy inspector general, Maj. Gen. Larry
G. Smith, was scuttled after it was revealed that
an alleged sexual harassment complaint against him had been removed
from his personnel record.
Caldera, who served in the California state assembly, also
served as a vice chancellor of the California state university
system. It was this background that allowed Gov. Richardson to
press for Caldera to be brought on as president of the University
of New Mexico. Caldera was not considered a top-tier candidate for
that post until Richardson’s staff inserted a requirement that the
president must have a top security clearance. According to former
Clinton administration sources, that requirement almost ensured the
only qualified candidate would be Richardson’s friend Caldera. In
the end, he stayed in the post for only about two years.
Caldera’s controversial background doesn’t end there. In 2002,
Caldera was placed on the board of IndyMac, before its failure and
placement in receivership due to its poor capitalization as a
result of poor mortgage investments. IndyMac Bank was the largest
savings and loan in Southern California and the seventh- largest
mortgage originator in the United States.
“This was a Rahm Emanuel hire,” says a former
Obama transition team member. “And the thing about Rahm is that
he’s not afraid to push a guy like this out the door. I’d be
surprised if Caldera is there to remind anyone of this boneheaded
decision six months from now.”
