Political Litmus Test for ITU Delegates Called Nonsensical
The Bush Administration rebuffed efforts to participate in the current ITU Plenipot by industry officials who gave to Democrats, multiple sources said. The Bush White House had relaxed pressure to exclude Democrats on such international delegations, but that pressure revived as the election neared, the sources said. Administration insistence on political purity of participants in a nonpolitical conference likely will be the subject of Hill oversight as Democrats resume control of Congress next year.
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“This is a problem,” a lawyer who has represented the U.S. in delegations said: “Corporations hire people for their expertise in technical, regulatory matters. We don’t hire people because they're Republican or Democrat for those functions, and we can’t.” Few have the expertise needed to work on complex international issues discussed at the ITU, the source said: “The ITU process spans election cycles. We can have people who have worked on issues 2 or 3 years no longer able to work on them… What a waste of corporate money, effort, resources.”
Greg Rohde, NTIA dir. under President Clinton, told us voters declared Nov. 7 that they're tired of partisan politics and that he hopes that means an end to excluding Democrats from ITU delegations. “The American people are fed up with the kind of partisanship the Congress and Administration have engaged in for the last six years,” he said: “Hopefully the State Department will listen to the mood of the country.” White House policy on international delegations could be the subject of hearings when the new Congress begins in Jan., Rohde said: “There has been no oversight for 6 years and that’s one of reasons so many things have gone adrift.”
Democrats and Republicans were interviewed for this story. Some asked that their names not be used, saying they fear Administration retaliation.
“It’s part of the Rovian age that anybody would have to pass a political litmus test to be part of a delegation,” said a lawyer active on international issues: “This is a page right out of the K Street Project.” International experts have been frozen out for contributing to both parties, the lawyer said: “Once we have Democrats in control of the House and Senate and the appropriate committees, I can’t believe they won’t slap this down.”
Even Republican sources qualified to serve on delegations told us they question the wisdom of excluding experts from technical meetings on political grounds. “There are tendencies to bump people who have been big Dem supporters,” a source active on U.S. delegations said: “Some people aren’t even bothering to put their names forward, so you're not even putting the White House in the position of scratching. This is purely White House. This is not State Department.”
The State Dept. has managed to get some candidate the White House rejected ont0 delegations, “but I guess there’s some limit to how much they can do that,” the source said. The Democrats also did some excluding under Clinton, but saw it as an error and stopped stiffing Republicans, the source said: “It seems to be, unfortunately, more of a knee-jerk reaction of this Administration… They don’t understand the distinction between ITU stuff and big picture political stuff.”
“The practice of rewards, including delegations, is not Bush-specific,” said a lawyer with Republican ties noting the Clinton White House’s partisan ways. “This isn’t the first time, despite what people say,” he said. “It happened in other administrations as well… It’s a pretty dumb idea. When it comes to the international environment you want the best people, whatever their orientation.”
The source noted that 60-70% of delegates avoid problems by not giving to either party. “It basically chills political engagement,” the source said: “Most people on delegations are not overtly political… They're very discreet and they don’t make any political contributions and they're sort of not defined by partisan politics.”