Bloomberg's Years Of Presidential Planning

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He insists he's not planning a run for the White House, but The New York Times reports Thursday that Michael Bloomberg has been busy laying the groundwork for that very thing for the past two years.

Aides for the New York mayor, whose switch from the GOP to the independent line caused a media frenzy earlier this week, have been collecting technical data on the onerous requirements to get him on the ballot in all 50 states, The Times says. Bloomberg, meanwhile, has held meetings with opinion leaders in Washington and traveled the country making speeches criticizing partisan politics in the nation's capital.

He also told associates that he was studying the 1992 presidential run of another independent billionaire businessman, Ross Perot, to determine how much a campaign would cost now.

The Times says there's division among top Bloomberg advisers about whether he should enter the race, and Bloomberg himself is said to be conflicted – intrigued by the possibility of being president, but determined not to be a spoiler who brings about the defeat of a Democrat like Hillary Clinton.

Bloomberg's vast wealth, however, gives him some time to ponder his decision. The earliest deadline for filing petitions to qualify for a state ballot isn't until May 2008 in Texas.

In a sidebar, The Times also reports on the potential threat Bloomberg could pose to Rudy Giuliani, his predecessor as New York mayor and the current Republican presidential front-runner.


More Scrutiny For Justice Department Hiring

There's yet another controversy over political hiring and firing at the Justice Department. The Washington Post reports that three minority women with good performance records as career lawyers at the department's civil rights division were transferred two years ago over the objections of their immediate supervisors.

The transfers were ordered by Bradley Scholzman, then the acting attorney general for civil rights, who told supervisors to tell the women that they had "performance problems or that the office was overstaffed." One lawyer, however, told colleagues that Scholzman, a recent Bush appointee, had confided that his real motive in removing those lawyers was to "make room for some good Americans."

In sworn congressional testimony, Schlozman admitted that he boasted about hiring conservatives and Republicans, but denied taking improper actions against any career Justice officials. Six officials in the civil rights division disputed that assertion, tellign the Post they either "overheard him making brazen political remarks about career employees or witnessed him making personnel decisions with apparent political motivation."

Scholzman's efforts to fill career jobs with political conservatives are now being examined as part of a broad probe of the Bush administration's alleged politicization of the Justice Department. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee also plan Thursday to question Schlozman's replacement about the civil rights division's hiring practices.

They also plan to ask about the "dwindling diversity" of the staff in a division "whose core mission includes fighting racial discrimination." Largely under Schlozman's leadership, the civil rights division hired seven new lawyers for its 14-member appellate section – they included six whites, one Asian and no African Americans.


Tony Blair's Next Job?

Could outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair's next job be as a special envoy to the Middle East?

The New York Times reports the Bush administration is pressing Blair to take the position working on behalf of the diplomatic "quartet" of world powers.

The proposal, endorsed by President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, would have Blair represent the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations and Russia in efforts to help Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas lay the foundations for a viable Palestinian state.

Mr. Bush has already spoken with Blair about the job, and also discussed it with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was reportedly "very keen on the idea."

British officials said Blair has not yet decided if he will take the job, and said public comments from the White House were premature.

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