Free Republic

Melissa Hodgman Named Acting Director of Enforcement at the SEC President Joe Biden’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it hired Melissa Hodgman to lead the agency as its acting director of the Division of Enforcement. “Melissa’s dedication to investor protection, broad experience in the Division, and proven track record of collaboration and creative problem solving make her ideally suited to this role,” SEC Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee celebrated in a statement. “As Associate Director, Melissa has overseen a wide range of complex and programmatically important matters, and has been a leading voice in the Division on critical issues...

Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday appointed two U.S. Attorneys to head an investigation into a recent series of national security leaks. Holder appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Machen Jr. and U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod Rosenstein to investigate and criminally prosecute “possible unauthorized disclosures of classified information.” “The unauthorized disclosure of classified information can compromise the security of this country and all Americans, and it will not be tolerated,” Holder said in a statement. “The Justice Department takes seriously cases in which government employees and contractors entrusted with classified information are suspected

President Obama has nominated a top campaign bundler to be the next U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, following in a rich presidential tradition of granting diplomatic posts to big-dollar fundraisers. The White House announced this past week that Maryland lawyer Timothy Broas would be nominated for the Dutch ambassadorship. According to the Obama campaign, Broas has helped raise more than $500,000 for the 2012 reelection effort. By law, Broas cannot contribute all that money himself -- so he, like other so-called "bundlers," serves as a fundraising point person and collects money from others to donate to the campaign.

Was the new acting director of ATF involved at the inception of the criminal gunwalking scandal known as Operation Fast & Furious? The appointment of B. Todd Jones as acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, hasn't caused much of a ripple – in the media or in the ATF. By most accounts Jones is a stand-up guy, ex-Marine, and in a refreshing change of pace, apparently not known for ignominious bouts of bad judgment. But who your friends are generally says a lot about you, and Todd Jones is a longtime friend and...

The White House has announced the appointment of a new ambassador to Syria -- a controversial move by U.S. President Barack Obama, who used his Constitutional muscle on Wednesday to name the envoy while the Senate was not in session. The previous ambassador to Syria was withdrawn by former President George W. Bush in 2005 in response to the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, as well as its support for Saddah Hussein-sympathizers and terrorism in general. There were strong indications at the time that Syria was behind Hariri's murder, although Damascus denied involvement in the truck bombing. The...

Moonbat Democrat Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is a far left liberal who recently claimed there isn't a requirement to buy health insurance in Obamacare. Last year Wasserman-Schultz ridiculed a Republican attempt to make attacking someone because of their military service a hate crime. Rep. Wasserman-Schultz became outraged and explains (video below) how comparing abused military servicemen and women to "real victims" like blacks and homosexuals is "belittling" to the progressives favorite special interest groups.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today appointed Silicon Valley lawyer Lucy Koh to a Santa Clara County Superior Court judgeship, moving quickly to fill an opening created by the recent disability retirement of Judge Randolf Rice. Koh, 39, is a partner in the McDermott, Will and Emery law firm, working as a litigator in the intellectual property department with a focus on patent and trade secrets cases. Koh is a former federal prosecutor who served in the major fraud section of the Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office and she worked as a Justice Department lawyer in Washington, D.C. from 1994 to 1997....

Former "Entertainment Tonight" host Leeza Gibbons has a new role, this one thanks to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. On Wednesday, the governor announced her appointment to a board that oversees California's stem cell agency. Gibbons, whose mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, will fill the Alzheimer's advocate seat on the 29-member Independent Citizens Oversight Committee. "Leeza's personal experience as a caregiver and advocate makes her uniquely qualified for this position," Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Gena Grebitus said in an e-mailed statement. In 2002, Gibbons and her family founded the nonprofit Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation after her mother was diagnosed. She spent a decade...

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the appointment of Peter Siggins as a justice in the First District Court of Appeal, Division Three. Siggins, 50, of Sacramento, served as legal affairs secretary to Governor Schwarzenegger from November 2003 to November 2005. From September to November 2005, he served as the Governor's interim chief of staff. Prior to that, he was chief deputy attorney general for legal affairs responsible for all the legal work of the Department of Justice from 1999 to 2003. In this position, Siggins oversaw more than 1,100 lawyers that handle all litigation brought in the name of the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Bridgett Luther Thompson to head the state Department of Conservation Friday. Thompson, 50, was previously a regional development director for Hands on Bay Area, which matches its network of volunteers to local charities. Prior to that, she was national development director for Republicans for Environmental Protection. "Bridgett shares my dedication to protecting our environment and ensuring our natural resources are wisely conserved," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. Thompson, a member of both the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, has also served as program director for the Trust for Public Land in Charlotte,...

WASHINGTON - President Bush sidestepped the Senate and installed embattled nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, ending a five-month impasse with Democrats who accused Bolton of abusing subordinates and twisting intelligence to fit his conservative ideology. "This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about UN reform," Bush said. He said Bolton had his complete confidence. Bush put Bolton on the job in a recess appointment — an avenue available to the president when the Congress is in recess. Under the Constitution, a recess appointment...

SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filled a four-month-old vacancy on the influential California Public Utilities Commission on Monday by appointing John Bohn, a fellow Republican with a diverse background in finance, law, technology, public relations and the government. Bohn, 67, is expected to be sworn in before the PUC's Thursday meeting, giving the state's top energy and telecommunications regulator a full slate of five commissioners for the first time this year. Schwarzenegger picked Bohn after a previous appointment of another Republican businessman, Steve Poizner, fell through. Poizner was never sworn in to the PUC because he held telecommunications investments...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who is trying to reform his ineffectual security apparatus, on Tuesday named a new head of the powerful agency in charge of reining in militants, officials said. The new chief of the Preventive Security Service is Rashid Abu Shbak, who ran the Gaza branch of that agency for two years. Abu Shbak is one of the young generation of leaders in Abbas' ruling Fatah movement, and his appointment is in keeping with Abbas' recent efforts to sweep out members of the old guard associated with his predecessor, Yasser Arafat. Israel...

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a surprise news conference this evening, announced the appointment of former U.S. Senator John F. Kerry, as Special Envoy of the United Nations to France

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a surprise news conference this evening, anounced the appointment of former U.S. Senator John F. Kerry, as Special Envoy of the United Nations to France

SAN DIEGO – As part of a voter-approved mandate to restructure the 13-member board that governs San Diego's troubled city employees' retirement system, Mayor Dick Murphy today announced seven appointments to the panel. In November, voters passed Proposition H, which limits the number of city employees and retirees that can serve on the board. "This is another part of my plan to restore financial stability to the city's pension system," Murphy said. Under the new configuration, the mayor appoints seven members to the board, who are subject to confirmation by the City Council. The remaining six positions are appointed by...

SACRAMENTO - Longtime Republican strategist Sean Walsh was appointed Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as director of the governor's Office of Planning and Research. Walsh, 41, is a former member of Gov. Pete Wilson's staff who played a key role advising Schwarzenegger during the 2003 recall election. Most recently Walsh ran his own government relations firm in Oakland and worked for former Secretary of State Bill Jones in his unsuccessful 2004 U.S. Senate campaign. The Office of Planning and Research advises the governor on land use and local government issues and provides support on research of legislative issues. The position...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Veteran state official Chon Gutierrez, who helped lead Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's California Performance Review study, was named Thursday as interim director of the California State Lottery. Gutierrez, 60, had been serving as the interim director of the Department of Motor Vehicles for the past year. During that time was also co-director of the California Performance Review, the governor's plan to reorganize and streamline state government. The appointment is Gutierrez's second stint at the lottery. He also served as lottery head from 1986 under the Deukmejian administration until 1991 when former Gov. Pete Wilson made a change in...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named a 16-member Council of Economic Advisers on Friday that leans heavily on Stanford University's conservative Hoover Institution and includes major Republican establishment thinkers on supply-side economics and reducing government regulations and taxes. Schwarzenegger named former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz to chair the group of Nobel Prize winners, California economics professors and former advisers to Republican presidents Bush, Reagan and Nixon. Shultz, the former Reagan Administration secretary of state who also headed Schwarzenegger's 18-member Economic Recovery Team during last year's recall campaign, similarly advised former two-term Republican Gov. Pete Wilson during the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday appointed 10 members to the California Air Resources Board, while keeping current Chairman Alan Lloyd in that position. The board has battled with the federal government over California's nation-leading auto emission and air pollution regulations, most recently over whether the state can enact limits on greenhouse gas-creating chemicals. Lloyd has been a member and chair since he was appointed by former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 1999. Lloyd, 62, a Democrat from Sacramento, is paid $123,708 as the board's only full time member. The Republican governor kept four other previous appointees: Dorene...