An Extra Year Before He's the Retirees' Retiree

Speculation already has begun about who will replace Novelli as chief executive. The leading inside candidate is said to be AARP's well-regarded chief operating officer, Tom Nelson. Also in the running is Emilio Pardo, AARP's chief brand officer, and Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond, who just took over AARP's government relations and advocacy portfolio.

Whoever takes over will have a lot of raw power to wield. A quarter of the people who voted in the United States in 2006 were AARP members. "That does give you a certain sense of clout," Novelli said.

Hire of the Week

Speaking of AARP, one of the organization's top officials, Larry Renfro, is leaving and will be replaced by three people.

Renfro, who leads AARP's burgeoning business ventures, is returning to his old stomping grounds at Fidelity Investments, as president of Fidelity Developing Businesses. He joined AARP in 2005.

Renfro will be replaced temporarily as the head of AARP Services by two people: Jean Alexander, the chief marketing officer of the same division, and John J. Wider Jr., vice president of health products and services.

A third person, Richard "Mac" Hisey, will succeed Renfro as president of AARP Financial, the AARP Services subsidiary that oversees AARP's banking, insurance and investment products. Hisey has been the chief investment officer of AARP Financial.

Novelli said Renfro's departure had nothing to do with his own decision to stick around for a while.

Earmark Mystery Solved

The unnamed author of the red-hot white paper that defends home-state projects called earmarks is no longer anonymous.

The six-page document, which has been creating controversy on Capitol Hill, was authored by -- drum roll, please -- the Ferguson Group, which says it's the largest lobbyist for localities in Washington.

In other words -- shock of shocks -- the most active (and secretive) promoter of earmarks turns out to be a firm that specializes in obtaining them for cities, counties and public agencies.

Soon after my column on the paper ran last week, the company's president, W. Roger Gwinn, phoned to admit that his firm's seven-person budget and appropriations policy team wrote it -- initially to explain to clients why they tended to get more money from congressional earmarks than from federal agencies left to their own devices. It was later distributed to lobbyists and congressional staffers.

That's when it became famous as a bold defense for the much-maligned earmarking process.

The document's facts were used in an op-ed piece praising earmarks that appeared under the names of mayors of three cities represented by the Ferguson Group. The firm had a hand in placing that op-ed in the Washington Post, though it initially denied any involvement.

Now the white paper can be yours as well. The original document, scintillatingly titled "The Fairness of Congressional Earmarking in American Democracy," is at http://www.fergusongroup.us/earmarkcomparison.htm.

Enjoy.

Please send e-mail to kstreet@washpost.com.