Bush Gives His Staff Jobs for Obama Era

Thursday, January 08, 2009
Elliott Abrams: He never goes away

In a going away present to some of his most trusted aides, President Bush has appointed 45 individuals to positions that will expire in the midst of Barack Obama’s term, or afterwards. He has appointed 12 individuals to 5-year terms on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, including Joshua Bolten, current White House Chief of Staff, Michael Chertoff, current Secretary of Homeland Security, Elliott Abrams, current Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy, and Michael Mukasey, current U.S. Attorney General. Bush drew criticism for his appointment of Abrams to his current position because of his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal; Abrams was pardoned by Bush Sr. for withholding information from Congress in its 1991 Iran-Contra investigations. Mukasey has also been in the limelight for defending waterboarding, and for famously saying ““not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime,” in defense of previous Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s politicized hiring and firing practices. 

 
President Bush also appointed Raymond Loretto and Virgil Trujillo to 4-years terms as members of the Board of Directors for the Valles Caldera Trust, which manages the Valles Caldera reserve. Congress purchased the reserve in 2000, with the goal of making it self-sufficient by 2015. To raise money, the trust has auctioned off hunting licenses, and sold ranching rights, yet it doesn’t allow public access. The Executive Director of the Valles Caldera trust is Gary Bratcher, an agribusiness veteran and former New Mexico State Secretary of Economic Development. He is paid $120,000 a year to oversee operations of the privatized public ranchland.  
 
1/6/09 Personnel Announcement (White House Press Release)

Comments

Leave a comment