S. Hrg. 107–118 THE STATE OF THE PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENT PROCESS HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 4 AND 5, 2001 Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 72–498 PDF WASHINGTON : 2002 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 08:53 Mar 13, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 72498.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: SAFFAIRS COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS FRED THOMPSON, Tennessee, Chairman TED STEVENS, Alaska JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine CARL LEVIN, Michigan GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire MAX CLELAND, Georgia ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JEAN CARNAHAN, Missouri HANNAH S. SISTARE, Staff Director and Counsel DAN G. BLAIR, Senior Counsel ROBERT J. SHEA, Counsel JOHANNA L. HARDY, Counsel JOYCE A. RECHTSCHAFFEN, Democratic Staff Director and Counsel SUSAN E. PROPPER, Democratic Counsel DARLA D. CASSELL, Chief Clerk (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 08:53 Mar 13, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 72498.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: SAFFAIRS C O N T E N T S Page Opening statements: Senator Thompson ............................................................................................ 1, 49 Senator Akaka .................................................................................................. 2 Senator Voinovich ............................................................................................. 3 Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 12 Senator Cochran ............................................................................................... 62 WITNESSES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2001 Hon. Sean O’Keefe, Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget .......... 5 Hon. Robert J. Nash, Former Director, White House Office of Presidential Personnel .............................................................................................................. 14 Paul C. Light, Vice President and Director of Governmental Studies, The Brookings Institution ........................................................................................... 15 G. Calvin Mackenzie, Distinguished Presidential Professor of American Gov- ernment, Colby College ........................................................................................ 26 Scott Harshbarger, President and Chief Executive Officer, Common Cause ..... 28 Patricia McGinnis, President and Chief Executive Office, Council for Excel- lence in Government ............................................................................................ 31 Norman J. Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute ............. 33 THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2001 Hon. Amy L. Comstock, Director, Office of Government Ethics .......................... 50 Hon. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, Former U.S. Senator from Kansas, and Co- Chair, Advisory Board, Presidential Appointee Initiative ................................ 53 Hon. Franklin D. Raines, Former Director, Office of Management and Budget, and Co-Chair, Advisory Board, Presidential Appointee Initiative ................... 56 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES Baker, Hon. Nancy Kassebaum: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 53 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 138 Comstock, Hon. Amy L.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 50 Prepared statement with attachments ........................................................... 126 Harshbarger, Scott: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 28 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 98 Light, Paul C.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 15 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 77 Mackenzie, G. Calvin: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 26 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 92 McGinnis, Patricia: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 31 Prepared statement with attached letter ....................................................... 115 Nash, Hon. Robert J.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 14 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 75 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 08:53 Mar 13, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 72498.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: SAFFAIRS IV Page O’Keefe, Hon. Sean: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 73 Ornstein, Norman J.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 33 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 121 Raines, Hon. Franklin D.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 56 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 147 APPENDIX Hon. Gary Hart and Hon. Warren B. Rudman, Co-Chairmen, U.S. Commis- sion on National Security/21st Century, prepared statement .......................... 160 Chart: The Presidential Appointment Process ...................................................... 167 Chart: Percentage of Appointees from DC Metro Area by the Presidential Appointee Initiative, referred to by Paul C. Light ............................................ 168 Wall Street Journal article by Paul C. Light, entitled ‘‘The Glacial Pace of Presidential Appointments,’’ dated April 4, 2001 .......................................... 169 Washington Post article by Richard Cohen, entitled ‘‘What Price Service?’’ dated April 3, 2001 ............................................................................................... 170 The Presidential Appointment Process: Reports of Commissions that Studied the Staffing of Presidential Administrations: A Summary of Their Conclu- sions and Recommendations for Reform ............................................................ 171 Office of Government Ethics Report entitled ‘‘Report on Improvements to the Financial Disclosure Process for Presidential Nominees,’’ April 2001, submitted by Amy L. Comstock .......................................................................... 195 The White House 2001 Project—Nomination Forms Online—Report No. 15: ‘‘In Full View—The Inquiry of Presidential Nominees,’’ by Terry Sullivan, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy .............................................................................. 244 ‘‘To Form a Government—A Bipartisan Plan to Improve the Presidential Appointments Process,’’ The Presidential Appointee Initiative, A project of the Brookings Institution, April 2001 ............................................................ 284 The State of the Presidential Appointment Process, Brookings Review, Spring 2001 ....................................................................................................................... 305 Post hearing questions and responses: Questions submitted by Senator Levin and responses from Amy Com- stock ............................................................................................................... 353 Questions submitted by Senator Akaka and responses from G. Calvin Mackenzie ...................................................................................................... 359 Questions submitted by Senator Akaka and responses from Scott Harshbarger .................................................................................................. 362 Questions submitted by Senator Akaka and responses from Norman Ornstein ......................................................................................................... 363 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 08:53 Mar 13, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 72498.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: SAFFAIRS THE STATE OF THE PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENT PROCESS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2001 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:06 p.m., in room SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Fred Thompson, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators