The U.S. Embassy in The Hague: Is it acceptable
for American
ambassadors to be chosen on the basis of how much they
donate to presidential candidates that eventually appoint them?
America’s
Latest ‘Pay to Play’ Ambassador to the Netherlands (de Volkskrant,
The Netherlands)
“This is a fairly
shocking system. … With us, this is what happened in the Middle
Ages. … but the Dutch Government is afraid to say to the Americans that they
don’t want a ‘pizza baker.’”
-- President of the
Dutch Branch of Transparency International, Paul Arlman
By Rob Vreeken
Translated By Marion Pini
May 3, 2012
The
Netherlands - de Volkskrant – Original Article (Dutch)
Yes, it’s that time
again. The U.S. government is sending a new ambassador to the Netherlands - who
has no diplomatic experience. Timothy M. Broas, a
lawyer specializing in white collar crime, will be the new man in The Hague.
Before Broas came businessmen like Clifford Sobel
(2001-2005) and a wealthy trader in dubious mortgages, Roland Arnall (2006 – 2008). In this line up we mustn’t forget Ambassador
C. Howard Wilkins Jr. (1989-1992), former chief of Pizza Hut.
What all of these
people have in common is that they contributed huge sums of money to the campaign
chests of the candidate who, once elected president, would appoint them ambassador.
That was the main reason for their appointments - if not the only one. It is
called buying a government post.
Is that normal? Yes, it
is normal in the sense that it is commonplace in the United States. It is normal
because as host country, we’re used to it. And it is normal in the sense that
it happens all over the world. In other countries, government posts go to the
highest bidders. People are given jobs, not because they are qualified, but
because they are friends of the president and have lined their party’s pockets.
So is these countries it is also common and everybody is accustomed to it.
The difference is that
in those cases, we tend to call it by name, and that name is: corruption. In such
instances, we call it shameful and threaten to cross them off our aid list -
lands like Nigeria, Pakistan and Tanzania, where based on our beliefs, they know nothing about "good governance."
But when precisely the
same happens in the United States, we say, ha ha, a “pizza
chef” as ambassador. … Hilarious!
This system is well
established. President
Nixon told his staff: “Anybody who wants to be an ambassador must at least
give $250,000.” European capitals are especially popular. It happens quite
openly and no one in America seems to mind. The only criticism voiced is that they
are often incompetent amateurs.
Posted by Worldmeets.US
Yet this is nothing less than what organizations like
Transparency International,
a watchdog for corruption, call "patronage." According to the definition of
Transparency, this is, “a form of favoritism in which a person is selected for
a government job, not because of qualities, but because of political
connections.”
Patronage, according to the organization’s
annual report, is one of the most
prevalent forms of political corruption: raising money for the party
purse by "selling appointments.”
The organization’s Dutch
branch, Transparency Nederland,
has no opinion about this American
practice. But President Paul Arlman says that in his personal opinion, it a “fairly
shocking system.”
"With us, this is what happened in the Middle Ages," says the former
top diplomat and World Bank
official.
Yet Arlman also shrugs it off. "It is part of their tradition and it all
happens above the table." And yes, he says, the Dutch Government is simply "afraid to say to the Americans that they don’t want a ‘pizza baker,’” which in principle they should be able to.
So all right then:
Welcome Timothy. But from now on, keep quiet about Nigeria.
YOUR DONATION MAKES OUR WORK AS
A NON-PROFIT POSSIBLE. THANK YOU.
