Short Takes

Applause for Envoys: Although the Bush Administration is sometimes criticized for putting too many career diplomats in key ambassadorships, two of the ambassadors named by the President last week are highly regarded on the right. Molly Bordonaro, formerly an official of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council and a GOP U.S. House nominee in Oregon in 1998, was tapped to be U.S. ambassador to Malta. The new ambassador to Canada is David Wilkins, speaker of the South Carolina House and a stalwart conservative.

Ollie Finds Other Opportunities: The political operative whom President Bush nicknamed "Ollie" has left the political vineyards (at least for a while) to work in the private sector. Jack Oliver, who headed the Bush-Cheney national fund-raising operation in 2000 and was later deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, has joined the venerable Bryan-Cave law firm and will work out of their offices in Washington, D.C., and Missouri. Before signing onto the Bush team, Oliver was a close associate of such well-known Show-Me State conservatives Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and former Sen. (1994-2000) and U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft. Oliver will also be associated with Lehman Brothers.

Given Oliver's encyclopedic knowledge of Republican politics nationwide and his record of orchestrating the most successful fund-raising operation for any presidential campaign, few pundits or pols expect him to stay out of the political fray for long once '08 Republican hopefuls begin making him offers.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. May 9, 2005
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