Appointments Watch: The numbers game

Humidity isn't the only thing bothering Washington this summer. According to the Brookings Institution, the government continues to slog through the presidential appointments process. As of June 22, according to Brookings, 120 Bush nominees for key federal posts had been confirmed by the Senate, while 102 additional nominations had been submitted to the Senate and were still awaiting approval. White House statistics were slightly more encouraging. According to the White House Web site, 132 nominees had been confirmed out of a total of 277 nominations sent to the Senate. Michael Hafken, a research analyst at Brookings' Presidential Appointee Initiative, said the discrepancy in the numbers probably lies in how the two groups compile their statistics. Hafken said Brookings does not include nominations for ambassadors, U.S. marshals, U.S. attorneys, or anyone with a term appointment after this year. Hafken said those groups are usually not selected in the same way as the bulk of presidential appointees. "We wanted to focus on the core 495 political appointments and take a real snapshot of what needs to get done in 2001," Hafken said. "The White House included everything out there." The White House did not return a phone call on how it compiles its appointments data. Whichever way you cut it, the list of appointees still awaiting approval includes some key positions in the federal management hierarchy. Last Thursday, Kay Coles James, Bush's nominee to head the Office of Personnel Management got a hearing before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. James, who will play a key role in the future of federal pay and benefits, fielded questions from lawmakers on issues ranging from military-civilian pay parity to labor-management partnerships. When Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., expressed concern over how long it takes the federal government to hire people into the civil service, James quipped, "I have first-hand experience with that issue," referring to the lengthy appointments process. During the same hearing, members of the Senate panel heard from Othoniel "Tony" Armendariz, who Bush has nominated to serve on the Federal Labor Relations Authority, an independent agency responsible for overseeing federal labor-management relations. Armendariz, who has been retired for the last four years, was a member of the FLRA from 1989 to 1997. Also awaiting confirmation is Neal McCaleb, Bush's pick to head the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs. McCaleb is a member of the Chickasaw Tribe in Oklahoma and served as secretary of the Oklahoma Transportation Department. He hasn't even been nominated yet, but rumor has it that Robert Mueller, U.S. attorney in San Francisco, is Bush's choice to head the FBI. If nominated and confirmed, Mueller, a former acting deputy attorney general, would replace Louis J. Freeh, who stepped down last week after serving as director since 1993. In other nomination news, Bush, during his recent visit to Florida to tour the Everglades, chose Fran Mainella to head the National Park Service. Mainella is director of the division of recreation and parks for Florida's Department of Environmental Protection. Last week, Bush also nominated Jeffrey William Runge as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Runge is currently assistant chairman of the Carolinas Medical Center's department of emergency medicine in Charlotte, N.C. Bush also appointed John Henshaw as assistant labor secretary for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration earlier this month. Henshaw is the former director of environment, safety, and health for Astaris LLC, a chemical company based in St. Louis, Mo. Energy's Powerhouse

In early June, the Energy Department swore in its top brass, who hail from industry and government:

• Deputy Secretary: Francis S. Blake, a former senior vice president at General Electric.
• Undersecretary: Robert Gordon Card, former president and CEO of Kaiser-Hill Co. in Colorado.
• Chief Financial Officer: Bruce Marshall Carnes, deputy director of the Defense Financing and Accounting Service at the Defense Department.
• Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: David Garman, former chief of staff to Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, and staff member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee from 1995 to 1998.
• General Counsel: Lee Sarah Liberman Otis, former chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration.