President Picks Ex-RNC Head for Veterans Affairs
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WASHINGTON – President Bush announced yesterday he was keeping the heads of the Transportation, Interior, Housing, and Labor departments, ending the major shake-up that will put new faces on three-fifths of his Cabinet in his second term.
Mr. Bush also said that Jim Nicholson, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and current U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, was his choice to lead the Veterans Affairs Department. Mr. Nicholson, a decorated Vietnam veteran, would succeed Secretary Anthony Principi.
Still to be named are new heads of the Energy Department and the Health and Human Services Department. In all, the president is replacing nine Cabinet secretaries and keeping six.
In conversations Wednesday, Mr. Bush let Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, Interior Secretary Gale Norton, and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao know of his desire that they stay on.
Mr. Bush had a similar talk with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson a few weeks ago. All accepted the president’s offer, White House Press Secretary Scott Mc-Clellan said. Treasury Secretary Snow and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld also are remaining.
In recent presidential history, only former President Nixon matched the number of Cabinet seats changing hands under Mr. Bush. Presidents Clinton and Reagan had seven changes each for the second terms; Presidents Truman and Johnson had four each.
The attorney general and the secretaries of agriculture, commerce, education, energy, health and human services, homeland security, state, and veterans affairs are leaving.
Mr. Bush has yet to announce anything about three of the six positions he has designated as having Cabinet rank in addition to the 15 Cabinet jobs mandated by law: the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, now Mike Leavitt; the U.S. trade representative, now Robert Zoellick; and the drug policy director, now John Walters.
The job of director of national intelligence, though not of Cabinet rank, is unfilled. Congress on Wednesday sent Mr. Bush the legislation creating the post as part of a major U.S. intelligence overhaul.
With Mr. Bush at the halfway point between his November 2 re-election and the oath of office January 20 for a second term, the decisions have now been made about the fates of those in the current Cabinet.
In announcing Mr. Nicholson’s nomination, Mr. Bush cited Mr. Nicholson’s eight years of service as a paratrooper and Army Ranger in Vietnam, where he earned a Bronze Star Medal. Mr. Nicholson spent 22 years in the Army Reserve and retired as a full colonel. He has been the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican since 2001.
“Jim Nicholson is a patriot, a man of deep conviction who has answered his country’s call many times,” Mr. Bush said.
Mr. Nicholson marveled at his selection. “When I think of growing up dirt poor in a tenant house without plumbing and sometimes without food, I marvel at America, that the boy from Struble, Iowa, may serve in the president’s Cabinet. How could this happen?” he said. “For me, it is because of the opportunities my country gave me as a cadet at West Point and as a soldier. These experiences have defined my life.”
Mr. Nicholson’s brother, retired Brigadier General John W. Nicholson, is undersecretary of Veterans Affairs. He directs the National Cemetery Administration, a system of 120 national cemeteries providing burial services for military veterans and eligible family members.
Mr. McClellan would not speculate about whom Mr. Bush would name to lead the energy and health departments.
Mr. McClellan’s brother, Mark Mc-Clellan – the government’s Medicare chief and a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration – is considered the top candidate to replace Secretary Thompson at Health and Human Services.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced his resignation more than three weeks ago.