"Discreet" Is The Word In McCain VP Search

Ariz. Senator's Vetter, Arthur B. Culvahouse, Is Consummate Behind-The-Scenes Player

(AP)  The search for John McCain's running mate is such a mystery that few people even know who's involved in the review.

The Republican is leaning on a consummate behind-the-scenes player in Washington - attorney Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. - for this maximum-discretion, minimal-disclosure assignment. In Culvahouse, a one-time White House counsel to President Reagan, McCain gets someone whose work mostly has been so obscure that he likely isn't recognized outside Washington's Beltway.

Culvahouse has been involved in vetting people for positions at all levels of government for three decades, roles he's gotten partly because of his reputation for under-the-radar maneuvering.

McCain has turned to him in recent weeks as he sorts through a list of some 20 or more would-be No. 2s - not that you'd know it. The Arizona senator, like every nominee-in-waiting, is demanding privacy and trying to keep the search under wraps, including the involvement of the man who goes by A.B.

McCain's advisers, the few in the know, are under strict orders not to even discuss the search. McCain, at times, has violated his own rule, including mentioning he wanted to consult with Culvahouse and disclosing he had a preliminary names list.

When word leaked that three potentials - former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist - were invited to McCain's estate Arizona for Memorial Day weekend, aides were furious and insisted it was a social affair.

Democrat Barack Obama, too, has advocated a private process but, so far, it's been fairly public. Obama, for example, announced that a former Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign manager would be chief of staff to his yet-to-be-chosen running mate.

Obama also named his search committee shortly after clinching the nomination - Jim Johnson, the former chairman of Fannie Mae, Eric Holder, a former deputy attorney general, and Caroline Kennedy. Within days, the committee went to Capitol Hill to consult with Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Under fire from Republicans and McCain, Johnson abruptly resigned after The Wall Street Journal reported he got home mortgages with help from the CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp. Holder, too, has faced a barrage of GOP attacks; he was the former Justice Department official who vetted President Clinton's oft-criticized 2001 pardon of financier Marc Rich.

The third member of Obama's team has a larger-than-life name as the daughter of former President Kennedy.

Conversely, Culvahouse's role in McCain's search has been largely shrouded in secrecy.

McCain aides won't confirm his position, but it's an open secret in GOP circles that while McCain and campaign manager Rick Davis are running the show, Culvahouse is closely involved the process.

"From my understanding, he has been asked to take a look at the potential candidates for vice president, look at their background," said former Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee, for whom Culvahouse was a top aide in the 1970s.

Baker called Culvahouse the perfect choice for such an assignment, saying: "He's smart. He's discreet. He doesn't seek out the press and a forum. He knows the system here in town; he's worked in it and understand it. He has no discernible ax to grind, and those things together make him enormously qualified and capable."

And, Baker said, he's not prone to leaking names: "You ain't going to get it from him, and that's one of his endearing qualities."

Aside from working for Baker, Culvahouse's other high-profile political post was as Reagan's counsel for nearly two years in the 1980s. During that time, Culvahouse vetted an estimated 200 nominees for various positions, including Robert Bork and Anthony Kennedy for the Supreme Court and Alan Greenspan for Federal Reserve chairman. He also advised the president on a range of matters, including the Iran-Contra investigations.

These days, Culvahouse, 59, is the chairman of O'Melveny & Myers, an international law firm where he has worked since 1976, save for a few years in the 1980s. His biography posted on his firm's Web site says he also has an "active corporate governance, internal investigations and compliance, and strategic counseling practice." Among his clients: the International Olympic Committee in the scandal surrounding the Salt Lake City games and Ford Motor Co. in the Firestone tire investigations.

Lobbying is not listed as part of his role, and Republicans familiar with his work say that he isn't a lobbyist by trade and does not have a lobbying practice. Senate records show he was registered to lobby on behalf of Fannie Mae and Lockheed Martin in a couple of instances several years ago but his allies say those were rare occasions and he hasn't done any work requiring him to register with the Senate in five years. They call it "a stretch" to describe Culvahouse as a lobbyist, a description Democrats use for him.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton has called it "the height of hypocrisy" for McCain to choose someone to help him who had been registered to lobby for government-sponsored mortgage lender Fannie Mae, where Johnson was CEO, and whose firm's clients have included ExxonMobil Corp. and former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling.

A George W. Bush donor in 2000 and 2004, Culvahouse was in McCain's camp during the 2008 primary.

"John McCain is the only candidate who can rally the Reagan coalition of conservatives, independents and conservative Democrats needed to defeat the Democratic nominee," Culvahouse told The Washington Times in January. He praised McCain as like Reagan, saying that McCain is "motivated by obligation" and "sees government service as an honor and a privilege."

[frootloop47]

Who John McCain picks as VP is inconsequential.

Come November the Republicans are going to get voted out of office.

[watcher269-2009]

Colin Powell???? The disloyal, ineffective SOS that can''''t make up his mind which party he''''s in? Yeah, THAT''''s a good choice. Dumbsh*t.

Posted by jackie0428

-----------------

I disagree - Colin Powell is a Great Man - he has done more for this country then anyone on this list - especially you!

He is a Military Man and follows orders given by the President - right or wrong - he was mislead on the facts too - at least he had the decency to resign his post. Not like the other treasonous people in office now!

[watcher269-2009]

Republicans - this is what you voted into office - this shames America to no end.
President Bush met with Filipino President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo today at the White House. Arroyo was in Washington while her country tries to recover from a typhoon that devastated coastal areas and flipped a ferry carrying over 800 passengers last week. Before discussing aide for the Philippines, Bush couldn''t resist beginning the sober meeting with a quip about a Filipino member of his kitchen staff. Read part of the transcript from the meeting and click here to read more about one of the "Philippine-Americans" Bush is referring to. See the excerpt below:

PRESIDENT BUSH: Madam President, it is a pleasure to welcome you back to the Oval Office. We have just had a very constructive dialogue. First, I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that -- in which there''s a lot of Philippine-Americans. They love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the -- of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT ARROYO: Yes.

PRESIDENT BUSH: And the chef is a great person and a really good cook, by the way, Madam President.

PRESIDENT ARROYO: Thank you.

[watcher269-2009]

Hey everybody - Bush and Cheney broke the LAW - Imagine that - where is this story on CBS NO NEWS?

WASHINGTON %u2014 Ivy Leaguers and other top law students were rejected for plum Justice Department jobs two years ago because of their liberal leanings or objections to Bush administration politics, a government report concluded Tuesday.

In one case, a Harvard Law student was passed over after criticizing the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. In another, a Georgetown University student who had previously worked for a Democratic senator and congressman didn''''t make the cut.

Even senior Justice Department officials flinched at what appeared to be hiring decisions based _ improperly and illegally _ on politics, according to the internal report.

"Individuals at the department were rejecting any of our candidates who could be construed as left-wing or who were perceived, based on their appearances and resumes and so forth, as being more liberal," Kevin Ohlson, deputy director of the department''''s executive office of immigration review, complained to Justice investigators.

The report marked the culmination of a yearlong investigation by Justice''''s inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility into whether Republican politics were driving hiring polices at the once fiercely independent department.

[zerato-2009]

"Nope, it just sounds like Zerato is a major league As*shole."

Posted by jackie0428

You know I would like to speak to one person on this blog who will have a cogent arguemnt and not simply call you names. I have been out of grade school for a while and am rusty at name calling. By the way taht is Mr. a hole to you.

[jackie0428]

Colin Powell???? The disloyal, ineffective SOS that can''t make up his mind which party he''s in? Yeah, THAT''s a good choice. Dumbsh*t.

[jackie0428]

Nope, it just sounds like Zerato is a major league As*shole.

[agog2]

If John McCain would choose Colin Powell as his VP it would assure him a win in November. I am a Democrat but I would vote for that team in a New York minute.

[zerato-2009]

"Conversely, Culvahouse''s role in McCain''s search has been largely shrouded in secrecy.

Culvahouse has been involved in vetting people for positions at all levels of government for three decades, roles he''s gotten partly because of his reputation for under-the-radar maneuvering. "

Shrouded in secrecy and been in all levels of government for three decades and manuevers under the radar. It sounds like that *** cheney is doing the vetting or will be mccains VP