The Senate's New Piñata

WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com, Nov 09, 2009

Lobbyist and Senate sources tell IBD that the new hold placed on Tom Shannon’s appointment as ambassador to Brazil is just one of many in the pipeline for the luckless career diplomat who up until now has been the top U.S. policymaker for Latin America.

On Thursday, the Senate did confirm Georgetown academic Arturo Valenzuela as assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, a job Shannon has held until now.

Both Shannon and Valenzuela had been in limbo for a couple of months based on Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., hold on their appointments. But DeMint lifted the holds this week after he was satisfied that a Shannon-brokered deal meant that the U.S. would not insist on the restoration of ousted Honduran President Mel Zelaya, who illegally tired to extend his term. DeMint also said he was confident the U.S. would recognize the results of the Nov. 29 election, which would truly end this Honduran crisis.

But Thursday night Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla., immediately placed a new hold on Shannon. LeMieux’s act doesn’t have any apparent connection to the Honduran crisis. Instead, the man who succeeded Cuban-American Mel Martinez is said to be close to parts of the Cuban-American community that view Shannon as soft on communism.

If that new hold isn’t enough, other senators are in line to block Shannon as well, sources say. They include Bob Menendez, D-N.J. and David Vitter, R-La., according to a Senate GOP source speaking off the record. Both have close ties to the Cuban-American community.

Mauricio Claver-Carone of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC stressed to IBD that his group doesn’t endorse candidates, but his personal opinion is that Shannon “shouldn’t be ambassador to anywhere.”

A key sore spot is Shannon’s role earlier this year in dealing with Cuba’s demand that Organization of American States let it rejoin. Shannon authored a statement that would let Cuba back into the OAS — if it took various democratic steps.

Widely reported as a cave-in to the pro-Castro lobby, Havana didn’t see it that way. Castro wanted unconditional entry to the OAS to qualify for trade credits from the Inter-American Development Bank. Failing that, he wanted America to take a hard line for as political fodder at home and in the region.

But Shannon’s soft-pedal approach gave Castro nothing and took Cuba’s OAS reentry off the table.

But for that success, and for his leading role in the Honduras accord, Shannon gets the political piñata treatment from the Senate.

Story by Monica Showalter from Capital Hill: IBD's Politics And Markets Blog
Investor's Business Daily's Nov. 06, '09 11:40 PM ET

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