http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nationa ... rbrey.html

October 25, 2005
Bush's Pick for State Post Criticized
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:44 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ellen Sauerbrey, a Republican loyalist chosen by President Bush to head the State Department's refugee program, is the latest nominee to face tough questions from senators about her qualifications.

The State Department's refugee and migration program needs a chief with experience handling crises of displaced people, Democrats said Tuesday.

''It doesn't appear that you have very specific experience,'' said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., during Sauerbrey's confirmation hearing before the Foreign Relations Committee.

''I don't think we see the requisite experience that we've seen in other nominees'' for the job, added Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Sauerbrey, a two-time Republican candidate for Maryland governor who ran Bush's 2000 campaign in the state, said she had the management, budgetary and humanitarian experience of three decades of public service and, currently, as U.S. envoy on women's issues to the United Nations.

''I think these are the skills that one needs along with the humanitarian heart to get the job done, to protect the most vulnerable people that this bureau is charged with protecting,'' Sauerbrey, 68, told the panel.

Sauerbrey is expected to win confirmation despite the questions, with a committee vote as soon as next week.

After the ouster of disaster relief chief Michael Brown, Democrats have increased their contentions that some of Bush's nominations carry the whiff of cronyism because they lack high-level experience.

For example, senators also raised concerns about Julie L. Myers, Bush's pick to head the Department of Homeland Security's immigration agency. Myers, who nonetheless won committee approval to send her nomination for a full Senate vote, had worked as a Treasury official and assistant U.S. attorney, but had little management experience, critics said. She is the niece of Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, who recently retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She also married the chief of staff of her would-be boss, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Sauerbrey, as assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, would oversee a budget of about $1 billion.