Time to appoint ministers by merit

THE EDITOR: US special counsel Robert S Mueller III was a registered Republican when GOP president George W Bush appointed him to the independent non-partisan office of FBI director and he was a registered Republican as of 2017.

The Senate unanimously confirmed Mueller as FBI director on August 2, 2001, voting 98-0 in his favour – meaning all Republican and Democratic senators voted unanimously to appoint Mueller because of his noted independence, brilliance and dedication.

In May 2011, president Barack Obama, a Democrat, asked Mueller to continue at the helm of the FBI for two additional years beyond the normal ten-year term, which would have expired on September 4, 2011.The Senate approved this request 100-0 on July 27, 2011. This made Mueller the longest-serving FBI director since J Edgar Hoover.

Rod Jay Rosenstein is an attorney serving as US Deputy Attorney General since 2017. He is a registered Republican who is in charge of special independent counsel Mueller as he investigates Russia’s involvement in the US 2016 presidential election.

Putting partisan politics aside for the good of the nation has obtained from the beginning of time to as recent as with Obama who had three Republicans in his Cabinet.

Obama broke the glass ceiling on many levels when he won the presidency in 2008. One key area was the appointment of the three Republicans. No other president in US history has appointed that number of Cabinet members from members of an opposing political party.

In 2009, Defence Secretary Robert Gates was appointed by Obama to his Cabinet. Gates had served under several Republican administrations, and though he dropped his party registration to present an apolitical appearance while with the CIA, Gates said in December 2008, “I consider myself a Republican.”

The other two Obama Republican appointees were Ray LaHood, a former congressman from Illinois, as secretary of transportation; and Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire as commerce secretary.

Other US Presidents have appointed Cabinet ministers from the other side of the political aisle. Most notable are:

• George W Bush: Democrat Norman Mineta, transportation secretary.

• Bill Clinton: Republican William Cohen, defence secretary.

• Ronald Reagan: William Bennett, then a Democrat, education secretary.

• Jimmy Carter: Republican James Schlesinger, who served as defense secretary under Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, was tapped by Carter as America’s first energy secretary.

• John F Kennedy: Republicans C Douglas Dillon as treasury secretary and Robert McNamara as defense secretary.

• Dwight D Eisenhower: Democrat and labour secretary Martin Patrick Durkin, the “plumber” among Eisenhower’s so-called “nine millionaires and a plumber” Cabinet.

When will TT become so politically mature and select Cabinet ministers based on meritocracy and what is best for the country?

When will we finally live by the words of the pioneer of the International Criminal Court, ANR Robinson: “Our country cries out for men and women who cannot be bought and sold. Men and women who are prepared to put principle before personality, country before self and morality before power.”

H STEW via e-mail