October 27, 2005
MIERS WITHDRAWS SUPREME COURT NOMINATION
The Associated Press is reporting this morning that Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court. Quoting President George W. Bush, the AP states President Bush reluctantly accepted Miers' decision to withdraw, after weeks of insisting that he fully supported her nomination and did not want her to step down.
The AP is also reporting that the Bush Administration is blaming Miers' withdrawal on calls within the U.S. Senate for the release of internal White House documents that the administration had insisted were protected by executive privilege.
In other news, the President announced today that he intends to nominate another personal friend and 'pioneer' financial contributor to his election campaigns--Marilyn Ware, of Pennsylvania--to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Finland. Ms. Ware, who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer for the Ware Family Office, a private company which designs and initiates business ventures and investment opportunities for the sole benefit of her own family, has no direct experience with working in Finland or with Finish authorities (nor do I suspect she even speaks enough Finnish or Swedish). Ms. Ware previously served as Chairman of Board of American Water Works Company, and in 2002 was appointed by the President to serve as a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, a group appointed by the President to provide him with advice on the security of information systems for critical infrastructure supporting banking and finance, transportation, energy, manufacturing, and emergency government services. Ware also holds a seat on the Board of Directors of the CIGNA Corporation, where she chairs the Corporate Governance Committee, and is a member of the Board of Directors of IKON Office Solutions.
Oh, and in case you're wondering... in the last few years alone, Ware, along with her mother--Marian S. Ware--have donated over $350,000.00 in soft money to the Republican National Committee.
Posted by Mikal at October 27, 2005 8:14 AM
| TrackBack
Ambassadorships has always been used as plums to be giving to wealthy contributors. Some that come to mind are Joseph Kennedy, Shirley Temple Black, Cabot Lodge and Senator Doddís father.
The Miers news shouldn't come as a complete shock, even though the President had vowed that he would see the nomination through. The push from Senate Democrats for Miers' White House documents set up the inevitable fight over executive privilege. And now the White House is able to use that issue to throw in the towel. How convenient :-)
Re: Marilyn Ware appointment as Ambassador to Finland.
Finland holds the world's largest supply of fresh water in the world. Canada is second. I suspect that is one good reason the former head of American Water Works (AWK) might want to go to Finland! As well, AWK was bought out by RWE AG (Germany) thru their global water subsidiary Thames Water, Plc (Ms. Ware is on the advisory boards of both RWE AG and Thames Water, Plc.). RWE AG is the third largest utility company in Europe, which has a current interest in developing nuclear plants and exploiting natural gas reserves, in cooperation with Russia, in Finland. During Ms. Ware's 15 year chairmanship of AWK, the market capitalization rose from $512 million to $4.6 billion.
She is also a trustee of Eisenhower Fellowships (Henry Kissinger is also a member, along with other political luminaries), a member of the Pew Oceans Commission (?) and the National Council of the Conservation Fund.
