By Al Kamen
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The World Bank's board of directors is scheduled to convene tomorrow and may try to figure out what to do about calls that the bank's president, Paul Wolfowitz, resign because he gave a big raise and promotion to his girlfriend, Shaha Riza.
The flap over the raise follows bitter controversy ever since Wolfowitz took over in June 2005. Detractors say his dependence on overpaid cronies, general mismanagement, adherence to Bush administration priorities and high-handedness, now followed by this problem, have destroyed his credibility.
Wolfowitz's supporters say the controversy is really about corruption: Either you're for it or against it. Wolfowitz is against it. His enemies, therefore, are for it.
Okay, maybe his campaign against nepotism and fraud and such might have been a tad undercut by Raisegate. But remember, transparency is important. And, as he told reporters, "I didn't hide anything that I did."
Indeed, he typed, checked the margins and spacing, looked for spelling and syntax errors, and then actually signed an order directing that his girlfriend be given a promotion, a raise of about $50,000, and then some fine future raises and promotions after she went, still on the World Bank tab, to work at the State Department.
Contrary to the impression left by the media, those future promotions were not automatic. The order said her performance outside the bank would be reviewed by a "committee of her peers" acceptable to her. (The directive doesn't say so, but custom dictates that no more than one committee member can be a close relative and no more than one can be a former college roommate.) Wolfowitz also indicated that he was under intense pressure to resolve this and was concerned Riza might sue the bank -- though we're told the bank has sovereign immunity.
And he's admitted he made a "mistake." Why isn't that enough? his supporters ask.
Well, the answer simply must be that the pro-corruption crowd -- the Brits, French, Germans, Dutch, Italians and other Euros, who in all provide around 40 percent of the bank's loans to poor countries -- somehow are worried that recipients might be forced to be honest. And the Euros include some "Wolfowitz haters" who, not coincidentally, also hate freedom.
In contrast, Wolfowitz's staunchest backers outside Washington tend to be from loan-recipient countries. They are strongly anti-corruption. Of course, over the years, some may have slipped up from time to time -- okay, maybe constantly -- but still . . .
So take your pick on what this is about. As the late, great Indonesian president Suharto is said to have observed to former bank chief James Wolfensohn: "In Indonesia, corruption was family values."
One Smart Cookie -- and Persistent, TooSen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the gift cookie that keeps on giving. A couple of Loop Fans grabbed takeout Sunday night from Hunan Dynasty on Capitol Hill. They had just finished the fine chicken with cashews and turned to the fortune cookies.
The first one popped out: "You will read and positively love 'Positively American,' the new book by Senator Chuck Schumer." Could it be that Schumer, whose book made the New York Times bestseller list a few months ago but now ranks 35,279 on Amazon.com, is still out there hawking it through fortune cookies?
Seemed plausible, but his spokeswoman, Risa Heller, said the cookies must have been left over from a book party at the restaurant in late January or early February. The cookies were given out at the party.
"We were positively sure that they were positively out," she said. "We were wrong."
No Subpoena for RiceDon't look for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee this week. Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is still not satisfied with her answers on WMD and other matters -- despite another lengthy memo from her yesterday. But no subpoena vote today, he wrote Rice late yesterday, saying he's rescheduled that vote for next week. He's thinking maybe she can swing by sans subpoena sometime before Memorial Day. Well, theoretically, you could have a worse fortune.
IRS Tips for the CorruptFiled your taxes on time? Did you declare everything you should have? Remember, as the IRS instructions say, "if you receive a bribe, include it in your income." Also, "if you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless in the same year, you return it to its rightful owner."
See instructions on estimating fair market value of stolen goods . . .
Dailey Named Counterterrorism CoordinatorCatching up . . . the White House has tapped Lt. Gen. Dell L. Dailey, long a major player in the "black" world of special operations, to be the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism. He directed the special-ops effort in the Afghan war and was in charge of the SOCOM, the special operations command in Tampa.
Dailey joins a growing number of former military folks now in intelligence operations -- such as CIA chief Michael Hayden and Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell.
In other moves, the White House has withdrawn two Environmental Protection Agency nominations -- Alex A. Beehler to be inspector general and William Ludwig Wehrum Jr. to be assistant administrator for air and radiation -- who were renominated in January. Both appeared headed for certain rejection by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee after a planned bludgeoning by committee Democrats at a hearing set for this week.
Enviros had objected to Wehrum, who had been acting assistant administrator for the past year, as being a principal architect of the much-criticized Bush efforts to weaken controls on polluting power plants. Enviros also opposed Beehler, assistant deputy undersecretary for environment, safety, and occupational health, arguing that he had worked to exempt the Pentagon from certain pollution controls.
CorrectionIn the item Monday on rapper 50 Cent's appearance at an AIDS awareness rally, he stopped off in Luanda, Angola, not Rwanda. That's another country.
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