ShareThisPresident Obama has said that he would try to reduce the number of non-career appointees as U.S. envoys abroad. But the majority of his picks so far have been wealthy donors such as Minneapolis attorney Sam Kaplan. The prominent fund raiser, together with his wife, Sylvia, bundled or collected more than $100,000 for Obama's record-breaking presidential campaign.
Kaplan, who will be sworn in Sept. 18 as ambassador to Morocco, argues that good diplomacy requires a healthy mix of career and non-career ambassadors. "They know so much, but we know a lot too," he said. "We bring different disciplines, different areas of expertise and experience."
Others note that successful party activists such as Kaplan -- who will resign from his law firm and give up all other political, business and civic commitments -- have spent lifetimes navigating intricate power relationships, business deals and politics. That can bring their host countries more clout and prestige.
"The government of Morocco knows that Kaplan is a strong supporter of Barack Obama, and knows a lot of people in the Democratic Party," said former U.S. Under Secretary of State J. Brian Atwood, dean of the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
"That's the benefit, especially if you get somebody who's competent like Sam."
Still, some foreign service professionals say that the post-9/11 world demands international relations experts, not political patrons. Two foreign service groups -- the American Academy of Diplomacy and the American Foreign Service Association -- are urging the administration fill no more than 10 percent of its 184 diplomatic postings with non-career ambassadors.
"It is fair to say that the expectation was, based on the kinds of things that President Obama said during the campaign ... that he would limit the use of political appointments," said Susan Johnson, president of the Foreign Service Association. "Political ambassadorial appointments ought to be an exception, not a routine practice."
So far, 38 of 65 ambassador appointments -- more than 58 percent -- are political, a much higher percentage than the historical average of about 30 percent, according to the Foreign Service Association.
But, the first slots in the most desirable "watering spot" destinations have gone to the politically connected and the big-money types. Appointments to less-enviable destinations -- such as Yemen and Uzbekistan -- tend to fill later with career foreign service officers.
White House aides note that, including holdovers from the Bush administration, the current ratio of non-career ambassadors still hovers at around the 30 percent average maintained since the days of President Kennedy.
Former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, chairman of the American Academy of Diplomacy, calls it a form of "simony" -- the ancient practice of buying public offices.
"Nobody's trying to dump on all non-career ambassadors, nor on the people President Obama has appointed," said Pickering, who has held numerous ambassador appointments. "What's bad is the connection between how much you bundle or collect and the jobs that are given out as rewards."
While Obama's appointments are flush with Democratic heavy-hitters, they also include former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a Republican who bundled $500,000 for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign last year. Huntsman was confirmed this month as the U.S. ambassador to China.
On the other end of the influence scale is Minnesota theologian Miguel Diaz, a professor at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University in Collegeville. He gave a total of $1,000 to the Obama campaign, but was chosen as the envoy to the Vatican, mainly for his outreach to Catholics during the campaign.
In Atwood's view, such political appointments illustrate the need for "fresh blood" and "people who reflect the politics of the time" -- supporters who have a passion for the president's foreign policy.
Atwood, who helped guide Kaplan through the appointment process, says Kaplan is competent, smart and politically attuned to the White House.
As for his qualifications, Kaplan said, "I would like to think that our involvement in the community and the state of Minnesota was much broader than simply raising money."
Now, heading for Morocco, Kaplan said that he and his wife will have to leave all that behind. "I am no longer, at least for this period of time, political," Kaplan said.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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