USIA - Clinton Nominates Bill Richardson as U.S. Ambassador To U.N., 96-12-13
From: The United States Information Agency (USIA) Gopher at <gopher://gopher.usia.gov>
CLINTON NOMINATES BILL RICHARDSON AS U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.
(Cites Congressman for "delicate diplomatic efforts") (730)
By Alexander M. Sullivan
USIA White House Correspondent
Washington -- President Clinton will nominate a prominent Hispanic-American
to be U.S. Permanent Representaive to the United Nations.
Clinton announced his selection of Rep. Bill Richardson (Democrat of New
Mexico) at a news conference in the East Room of the White House December
13. Richardson, who has served 14 years in the House of Representatives, is
internationally known as a skilled, if unofficial, negotiator who most
recently obtained release of three hostages held by Sudanese rebels and an
American missionary held by North Korea.
At the same time, Clinton said he will nominate Chicago attorney Bill Daley
to be Secretary of Commerce, Charlene Barshefsky to be U.S. Trade
Representative, Gene Sperling to head the National Economic Council, and
State Department official Daniel Tarullo to a new post as Assistant to the
President and Coordinator of international economic policy. Daley, who
apparently suffered a fainting spell and fell off a low podium after
thanking Clinton for the nomination, later returned to the news conference
with no apparent ill effects.
Clinton said three other Cabinet officials will stay on for a second term:
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Attorney General Janet Reno and Secretary
of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala. In addition, he said, Carol
Browner will remain as head of the Environmental Protection Administration
and Franklin Raines will stay as director of the Office of Management and
Budget. The President said he has named Deputy Treasury Secretary
Lawrence Summers to a concurrent post on the National Economic Council.
Clinton called Richardson "one of our nation's most prominent Hispanic-
Americans" and praised him for his "delicate diplomatic efforts around the
world, from North Korea to Iraq." He said Richardson would have Cabinet
rank and would be "a principal on our foreign policy team."
Richardson laid out an ambitious agenda, noting that if confirmed by the
Senate he will be working with a new U.N. Secretary General to press a
reform agenda for the world body.
The Congressman noted that the United States had been "the driving force"
behind creation of the U.N. but has become "ambivalent about it. We support
its goals and the principles upon which it is based, but we're jealous of
our own prerogatives."
He said administration efforts have made the U.N. "more disciplined, more
accountable and in many ways more effective than it was four years ago." It
will be his task, he said, to work with the new Secretary General, who was
elected by the U.N. Security Council December 13, and other member states
to "make U.N. peacekeeping better planned, better managed and more
successful," and to work for the expansion of the Security Council without
compromising its effectiveness. He pledged to work for "consensus" goals
on development, environmental protection and human rights.
He said he will work with Congress, as well, "to find a mutually acceptable
means of paying our outstanding U.N. bills."
Richardson, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995, has also
negotiated release of captives held by Iraq, Cuba and Bangladesh. He was
the only non-family member to visit Aung San Suu Kyi during her six years
of house arrest in Burma, and has participated in election observer teams
in Guatemala, Nicaragua and East Germany.
The President called his new choice for Secretary of Commerce "a man of
rare effectiveness," and said Daley had played a key role -- as pecial
counsel to the President -- in marshalling public and congressional support
for the North American Free Trade Agreement three years ago.
Barshefsky, Clinton said, "is a tough and determined representative" for
the United States, "fighting to open markets to the goods and services
produced" by U.S. workers. Barshefsky has been acting Trade Representative
for eight months, and Clinton cited as an example of her effectiveness the
World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on information technology adopted
in Singapore. "This is a remarkable achievement," the President said of the
agreement.
Sperling has been advising Clinton on economic policy since the 1992
presidential campaign. Alluding to Sperling's reputation around the White
House as a workaholic, Clinton said he had attached a condition to his
appointment -- "I made him promise ... that he would adopt a dramatic new
idea, and that's sleep."
From the United States Information Agency (USIA) Gopher at gopher://gopher.usia.gov
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