Clinton Widens Her Circle
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on March 11th, 2010 5:42 am by HL
Clinton Widens Her Circle
The Washington Post notes Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “had one condition that eclipsed all others as she considered Obama’s offer to be secretary of state: She demanded hiring authority at the department. To Team Clinton, this meant every political job — about 200 — from the most senior level to the 20-something researchers. Historically, it is the president who fills these political positions, and no one can recall a Cabinet secretary in recent memory requesting and receiving this kind of hiring latitude.”
Interestingly, “a little over a year into her tenure as secretary of state, allies and detractors alike say Clinton has made a vigorous effort to widen her circle, wooing and pulling into her orbit the agency’s Foreign Service and civil service officials, many of whom said in interviews that she has brought a new energy to the building.”
Conyer’s Wife Sentenced to Three Years
Monica Conyers, the wife of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), was sentenced to 37 months in prison for taking bribes, the Detroit News reports.
She “is the only Detroit elected official convicted so far in a long-running corruption investigation that has netted 10 guilty pleas.”
The Detroit Free Press notes that “after months of silence,” the “combative and unpredictable” Conyers “erupted during her sentencing in federal court Wednesday: first, repeatedly asking to withdraw her guilty plea, then exclaiming she wasn’t going to jail for something she didn’t do.”
However, a plea document Conyers signed last summer said she “waives any right to appeal her conviction or sentence” as long as she was sentenced her to five years or less.
