Posted on 10/30/2002 10:56:08 AM PST by gubamyster
October 30, 2002, 10:35 a.m.
Controversial State Department nominee Maura Harty is likely to face more trouble in the Senate than she was already headed for a week ago. Even though she has yet to be confirmed by the Senate to take over State's visa office, Harty, for the past week or so, has been assuming control of that position, according to a senior official at the State Department.
Someone prematurely making decisions in a Senate-confirmed post — before the Senate has actually confirmed the nominee — is verboten, and possibly against the law. Either way, the mere appearance of impropriety is not popular with the current White House.
Harty is in line to become the head of Consular Affairs (CA), the agency within State that oversees consulates and visa issuance, but her nomination has hit a snag in the Senate. Although Secretary of State Colin Powell has personally lobbied many senators on Harty's behalf, at least one senator has put a "hold" on the nomination — making a late-session confirmation unlikely.
Revelations that most of the 9/11 terrorists never should have been issued visas under the law — as first reported exclusively by National Review — have led many senators to conclude that the person who decides who does — and does not — get into this country must be a forceful and dynamic leader. Since Harty is seen — even by her strongest supporters — as a "nice" and "technically proficient" bureaucrat, this has spelled trouble for her prospects.
Considering the scrutiny her nomination is receiving — the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times have both recently opposed it-her premature move is particularly foolish. But she is pressing ahead, calling acting chief of CA George Lannon and Deputy Assistant Secretary Dianne Andruch almost every day for the past week, "ordering them around as if she were already the boss at CA," according to a senior official at State.
One possibility in a situation involving an unconfirmed nominee is that the person has a temporary consulting contract, but a State spokeswoman last night denied that Harty is doing anything other than her full-time job running Powell's executive office. Her current job does entail some occasional interaction with CA, but the recent flurry of phone calls constitute far more activity than her present job description allows.
A senior administration official who himself has gone through the Senate confirmation process offers up one theory: "Perhaps she thinks she's outsmarting the system, saying the kinds of things that she'd like to 'see' if she were in the position."
Regardless of how Harty is couching her words when on the phone, the message to employees at CA is clear: Harty is now calling the shots, even for Lannon, who is supposed to be the acting head of the agency. Even if she has found a method of Clintonian parsing that enables her to circumvent the law, Harty is at the very least snubbing tradition.
While many nominees do have some interaction with their hoped-for offices, it is typically as a consultant, and never more than advisory. If someone is not even a consultant, then interaction is limited to friendly handshakes and quiet moments in front of the water cooler.
Nominees who face less-than-certain Senate prospects typically go one step further and wall themselves off entirely from anything that even looks bad. Eugene Scalia, for example, was effectively anti-social with the people at the Department of Labor until he was given a recess appointment.
Harty's nomination to replace the now-"retired" Mary Ryan as head of CA should be troubling to senators on many grounds, not the least of which is her own track record. But senators still intent on confirming her should ask themselves a fundamental question: If Harty cannot respect the law before she becomes the head of Consular Affairs, how can she be expected to enforce it once she's officially in there?
— Joel Mowbray is an NRO contributor and a Townhall.com columnist.
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