The morning line, Dec. 10, 2008
Obama is expected to announce "as early as" today that former EPA Administrator Carol Browner will be appointed to a new White House job in charge of "environmental, energy, climate and related matters," the Washington Post reports, citing Democratic sources. The Post speculated that Obama might announce other environmental appointees, such as EPA, Interior and Energy, in conjunction with the Browner roll out.
The Senate confirmation hearings for attorney general-designate Eric Holder will begin Jan. 8, Politico reports. These hearings are expected to be at least somewhat contentious because of the role Holder played in Bill Clinton's pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich in 2001.
The bulk of Obama coverage this morning is taken up by discussion of the implications of yesterday's charges against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. While Obama is accused of nothing, as the AP points out, his name crops up because the governor's process for choosing a replacement for Obama's Senate seat figures in the charges, Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett was among the candidates for the Senate appointment and, in a twist, Obama played a role in the fairly recent passage of an ethics law that contributed to Blagojevich's troubles.
The New York Times reports that three months ago, in the heat of the presidential campaign, Obama called Emil Jones Jr., who is Obama's mentor and president of the Illinois state Senate, to urge passage of an ethics bill limiting campaign contributions that Jones and the governor opposed. The Senate eventually overrode Blagojevich's veto of the bill. That prompted Blagojevich to press state contractors hard -- allegedly, illegally -- for campaign contributions before the law's limitations take effect at the beginning of next year.
The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Attorney's complaint against Blagojevich alleges that the governor was trying to broker a "three way deal" in "which he would appoint Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett, a Chicago businesswoman believed to be the woman identified in the complaint as 'Candidate 1,' to Obama's Senate seat; Blagojevich in return would become Change to Win's executive director; and Obama would reward Change to Win with pro-labor policies."
Obama yesterday denied that he had any discussions with the governor about the Senate seat, but refused to answer questions about whether his staff had. Marc Ambinder provides the verbatim answer Obama gave the Los Angeles Times.
Obama strategist David Axelrod said last month that Obama had spoken with Blagovich about the vacancy, Politico reports. Yesterday, Alexrod put out a statement saying he was mistaken that Obama's conversation with the governor included discussion of his Senate seat.
