Lawmakers Push Leach For U.N. Job

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The New York Sun

WASHINGTON — A House Republican and Democrat, in the new spirit of bipartisanship, are urging President Bush to name Rep. Jim Leach, a defeated Republican, to be the next American ambassador to the United Nations.

“He is the most diplomatic politician I have ever met,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat of Oregon, said of Mr. Leach, a moderate from Iowa known for his professorial sweaters, his low-key, nonpolitical approach to issues, and his opposition to the war in Iraq.

“I can’t think of any American better qualified to represent our interests before the United Nations,” Rep. Jim Walsh, a Republican of New York said. Mr. Walsh yesterday joined Mr. Blumenauer in circulating a letter in the House seeking support for Mr. Leach if the acting U.N. ambassador, John Bolton, is forced to resign.

Mr. Bolton has been temporary ambassador since August 2005, but he has never been able to win confirmation because of opposition from Democrats, and some Republicans, to his confrontational style.

The White House recently renominated Mr. Bolton to the post, but Senate supporters lack the votes, and it appears that Mr. Bolton will have to resign when Democrats take over the Senate in January.

Mr. Leach, 64, who refuses to take political action committee money or run negative ads, narrowly lost to college professor Dave Loebsack in last week’s election, ending a 30-year career as a House legislator.

Mr. Leach, who has announced no plans for the future, does have the resume for the job. He was a foreign-service officer at the State Department in the 1960s and served at the U.N. in the 1970s under George H. W. Bush, who was the ambassador at the time.

He is currently chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific affairs.

“He clearly is flattered to be considered” as U.N. ambassador, his chief of staff, Gregory Wierzynski, said. “As a former foreign service officer, it would be something of intense interest to him.”


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