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An Ohio businessman with close ties to Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, is a top candidate to become administrator of the General Services Administration, according to sources at the agency.

Stephen A. Perry, senior vice president for human resources at the Timken Company, an Ohio-based manufacturer of steel alloys, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for several positions in the Bush administration. But sources at GSA now consider Perry as well as former buildings commissioner William Coleman to be the leading contenders for the GSA slot.

Voinovich, a former governor of Ohio, tapped Perry to serve as state director of administrative services in the early 1990s. Voinovich has lobbied the Bush administration on Perry's behalf, according to Scott Milburn, a spokesman for the senator.

"[Voinovich] thinks [Perry] would be an asset to the administration in personnel management-type issues," Milburn said. Milburn mentioned that Voinovich has supported Perry for other positions in the administration such as Secretary of Labor.

Sources say a GSA administrator will be named within the next two to three weeks. Coleman served as commissoner of GSA's Public Buildings Service in the previous Bush administration.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that Kay Coles James, a Heritage Foundation senior fellow who served in the Reagan and previous Bush administrations, was the favorite to be named director of the Office of Personnel Management.

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