Personnel News

Reuters (6/22) reports, “President Bush on Thursday announced his intention to nominate career diplomat Peter Russell Chaveas as ambassador to Sierra Leone. Chaveas has served as political adviser to the US European Command in Stuttgart since 1997, the White House said in a news release during a visit by Bush to Alabama.” Chaveas “previously served as chief of mission at the US embassy in Malawi and other African posts.” Reuters (6/22) reports, “US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman on Thursday named a former top official with the American Forest and Paper Association to head all of the department’s conservation and environmental programs including oversight of the nation’s 190 million acres of national forests.” Reuters adds, “During the early 1990s, Mark Rey was vice president with the national trade group representing forest, paper and wood products industry. If confirmed, Rey will leave his position as a staff member on the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.” Reuters also notes, “Environmentalists said they were skeptical of Rey’s nomination.” The Albuquerque Journal (6/22, Coleman) reports, “President Bush on Thursday nominated former New Mexico Court of Appeals Judge Harris Hartz to the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Hartz, a 54-year-old Farmington native, is the most recent nominee to the Denver-based court, which has jurisdiction over New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. Hartz’s nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.” The Washington Post (6/22, Kamen) reports, “Hilda Gay Legg, head of the Center for Rural Development in Kentucky, is to be administrator of the Rural Utilities Service at the Department of Agriculture.” The Post continues, “Former Bush I Environmental Protection Agency lawyer Marianne Lamont Horinko is to be EPA assistant administrator for solid waste. Washington lawyer Nancy Victory is the pick for assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information; New Mexico director of special education Robert Pasternack is to be assistant secretary of education for special education; and Joanne M. Wilson, founder and director of the Louisiana Center for the Blind, is to be commissioner of the Rehabilitative Services Administration at the Education Department.” The Post adds, “Former Secret Service senior special agent Kenneth M. Donohue Sr. is to be inspector general at the Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Michael Minoru Fawn Liu, former Hawaii lawmaker and Bush I agriculture official, is to be HUD assistant secretary for public and Indian housing.” CQ (6/21, Caifa) reported Christin Tinsworth “has joined the House Ways and Means Committee as deputy director of communications. Tinsworth previously worked as communications director for Rep. Anne M. Northup, R-Ky., press secretary for Citizens for a Sound Economy, and press secretary for Rep. Dan Miller, R-Fla.” Sam Stratman, “communications director for the House International Relations Committee, will be the new spokesman at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Stratman “worked in the press office of Rep. Henry J. Hyde, R-Ill., and was spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment proceedings of former President Bill Clinton.” Brian Wagner, “legislative assistant to Rep. Ken Calvert, R- Calif., is leaving for a spot in the government affairs division at Boeing Co.” Former House Armed Services Committee aide H. Hollister “Holly” Cantus “will leave his post with Alcade and Fay later this month to start his own marketing and lobbying company, the ILEX Group, working with technology, aerospace and engineering clients.”