Missouri's Fox the latest big-money contributor to become a U.S. ambassador

[babylonsister]

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17110162.htm

Missouri's Fox the latest big-money contributor to become a U.S. ambassador
By Rob Hotakainen
McClatchy Newspapers

snip//

As he prepares to begin a new job in Brussels, the 77-year-old Fox is the latest in a long line of big-money contributors to represent the nation abroad. Since taking office in 2001, President Bush has appointed at least 43 Republican contributors to ambassadorships, according to the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group.

While the practice has decades of precedence under Republican and Democratic presidents, critics say the high-profile jobs should go to the most qualified candidates, not necessarily to those with the most money.

"You would never appoint someone to head a major corporation who has no business experience," said Steve Kashkett, vice president of the American Foreign Service Association. "You would never appoint someone to be the chief of surgery at a major hospital who has no medical experience. ... This practice hurts our credibility and effectiveness around the world."

In the last four decades, roughly a third of ambassadorial appointments have gone to private citizens who are big-money contributors or who lack foreign service credentials. Fox, who founded the multibillion-dollar investment firm Harbour Group, is a big donor with no diplomatic experience.

Since 1993, he and his wife have donated $650,000 to federal candidates and committees and $1.5 million to so-called Section 527 accounts and soft-money accounts of the national party, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks contributions. All of that money went to Republican candidates and causes, with one exception: $23,100 to Sen. Joseph Lieberman last year, a former Connecticut Democrat who ran and won as an independent last year.

Fox also helped recruit other contributors to Bush's presidential campaigns. He was designated one of the president's "Pioneers" in 2000 for bringing in at least $100,000 and a "Ranger" in 2004 for raising at least $200,000.

more...

[Lerkfish]

1. Brussels should sue