Busy Bolten Will Continue GOP Grip-and-Grins

Al Kamen
Monday, April 24, 2006

Sometimes they don't give the new guy a chance to settle in before they throw him into the fray.

So there's brand-new White House chief of staff Josh Bolten , working his tail off, getting in around 6:15 a.m., leaving after 10 p.m. most every day since he took over the job a week ago. He's also decided to fulfill engagements he'd agreed to while in his old job at the Office of Management and Budget.

He's even continuing grip-and-grin duties at Republican fundraisers. Our invite from Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) to attend the GOP's Leadership Circle PAC's "Spring Celebration," notes it's "with special guest The Honorable Joshua B. Bolten."

The PAC wants folks to pony up $5,000 for the chance Thursday night to hang with her and other members of Congress, such as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.). Then on Friday, after a breakfast chat with party strategist Mary Matalin , and 20-minute briefings from Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other Republicans, Bolten is the guest speaker for lunch.

After lunch, he'll probably have to get back to work moving around the deck chairs.

How to Pop Open an F-22

What do you do when the canopy on a new F-22A fighter jet doesn't open and the pilot is trapped inside for five hours?

Get out the chainsaws.

That's what maintenance technicians at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia did a couple weeks ago after calling Lockheed Martin Corp., the plane's manufacturer, to find out how to free the pilot.

The cost of a new canopy: $182,205.

"Since the American taxpayers have already spent billions of dollars on the F-22, our servicemen and women shouldn't need a chainsaw to get out of the aircraft," said Nick Schwellenbach , an investigator for the Project on Government Oversight, which posted pictures of the incident on its Web site.

An Air Force spokesman said the canopy problem was a first for the base's 25 F-22A's, planes originally designed to provide air supremacy in a war with the Soviet Union over Europe.

"Something like this is an anomaly . . . part of the growing pains" of a new weapons system, the spokesman told our colleague Charles Babcock. A Lockheed spokesman said a fix has been found and is being implemented.

Mini-chainsaws?

Counting on the Cambodians?

Passing strange headline of the week: "Cambodia Rejects U.S. Request for Troops in Iraq."

Reuters reported that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the decision. "We will not send our armed forces to Iraq because the issue there is not in the hands of the United Nations," he told reporters.

The announcement came after a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli , who asked the prime minister to consider helping out in Iraq or Afghanistan. Mussomeli reportedly was looking for medical personnel, de-miners and military police.

"Every day we have seen people getting killed and taken hostage" in Iraq, Hun Sen said, "so I will not let my people, who went through 30 years of suffering from war, see more horrible days of separation and suffering from the continued terrorist activities of decapitating hostages in Iraq."

Pretty compassionate, noble stuff. But wait a minute! Hun Sen? The former commander in the hideous Khmer Rouge regime, which slaughtered millions of people? Hun Sen defected to communist Vietnam, returned with Vietnamese help and became a top leader in 1985. He seized full power in a bloody coup in 1997 and has been accused of using strong-arm tactics to stay in power.

So this is the guy we're asking for help in Iraq and Afghanistan? Who's next, the North Koreans?

State Department's Photogenic No. 2

Actress, animal lover and prominent Republican Bo Derek created something of a stir at the State Department on Friday when she showed up to be named the State Department's special envoy for wildlife trafficking issues -- illegal sales of exotic wildlife and such.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert "Panda-Hugger" Zoellick , recently seen cradling one of the cuddly creatures, made the announcement, praising Derek for her "public sense of service."

The department put out photos of the event, which one wag promptly called "the Perfect 10 meets the Perfect . . ." and left the sentence hanging. Well, we wouldn't say 10.

Snow's Job

We're hearing that, as of last week, the Bush administration has yet to find a replacement for Treasury Secretary John Snow , with prominent folks in the banking world balking at taking the job.

It may be that the White House will fill the job with someone already in the administration. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt had been talked about for the post, but he's taken some flak for his role in that Dubai Ports World deal to take over terminal operations at several U.S. ports.

If the administration insists on finding a Wall Streeter, then Snow could have months to pack his bags. That's because background checks and paperwork for mega-portfolio people can take four or five months. And that would mean Senate confirmation hearings just before the November midterm elections, something most administrations tend to avoid.