Conservative Principles Now

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding confirmation hearings this afternoon for five nominees. One of the nominees, Jide J. Zeitlin, is being nominated to be Representative of the United States to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform and to hold the rank of Ambassador. There are a number of issues the Committee should explore during their deliberations on Zeitlin’s nomination.

As discussed in an article today in The Washington Post, Zeitlin “has faced some financial setbacks and clashes as a private investor, including legal complications involving a telecommunications start-up he owns in India and the bankruptcy of a pharmaceutical company he helped finance.” Specifically, an Indian firm is accusing his company of reneging on a contract to pay for wireless towers in India. An Indian court has ordered the liquidation of his firm to pay for the contract.

The matter is still being litigated not necessarily unusual—after all, a number of businessmen encounter financial difficulties and wrongfully undergo court action. However, there are other troubling issues in Zeitlin’s background.

As discussed in The Washington Post article and other news stories, Zeitlin was sued in 2006 by American Tower Corp., a rival company of Zeitlin’s, for impersonating its chief executive and e-mailing negative articles about American Tower to investors with the intent of dissuading them. As the Post describes:

In 2006, Zeitlin was sued over allegations that he defamed a rival firm, American Tower Corp., and impersonated its chief executive, James D. Taiclet Jr., in cyberspace, according to a complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. American Tower voluntarily withdrew its suit in early 2008 without any financial settlement or public admission of fault by Zeitlin, according to a company statement.

The complaint alleged that Zeitlin provided a magazine reporter with negative information about American Tower and then forwarded the article to two of the company’s major institutional investors, Thomas D. Stern of Chieftain Capital Management and Nick Advani of Goldman Sachs. It said Zeitlin used an Internet tool that allowed him to falsely identify Taiclet as the e-mail sender.

American Tower learned of the alleged ruse after Stern sent a reply to the e-mail that went to Taiclet, prompting a company investigation that determined that Zeitlin was the actual author of the e-mail.

Implausibly, the White House dismissed the incident as a joke gone wrong. Sound familiar?

Considering the enormous challenge posed in reforming the notoriously mismanaged United Nations, the Senate should focus on sending the best person to oversee UN management and reform.

The Obama Administration’s policy refuses to recognize the way out of the Honduran crisis. The door is open and a solution beckons: national elections on November 29. Yet, the Administration remains fixated on restoring former president Manuel Zelaya to power. In fine bureaucratic fashion, it has lost sight of the solution in order to support an uncertain process of negotiations.

Instead of allowing the Honduran people to speak through elections on November 29 and end the crisis, the Administration makes Zelaya’s restoration to presidential office its primary objective and the litmus test for “a restoration of democracy.”

Since his precipitous return to Honduras on September 21 and entry into the Brazilian embassy for asylum, former president Zelaya has not helped his cause. He has made a number of surreal allegations regarding “Israeli mercenaries” and tortures with “high-frequency radiation.”

Anti-Semitic outbursts by a prominent Zelaya supporter have also opened eyes regarding the secretive thoughts of the radical-populist Left.

The Administration, nonetheless, is sticking with Zelaya. It has invested little time in listening to those who acted in defense of the Honduran constitution or working behind the scenes to broker a solution. Historic U.S. leadership in Central America is now considered a passé. Isolating the interim government of Roberto Micheletti and punishing the people of Honduras with aid cut-offs and visa denials will likely have lasting political and economic consequences.

The deny and isolate strategy spilled over into the Senate last week when John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, attempted to block a congressional fact-finding mission to Honduras by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and three congressmen.

Fortunately, the congressional visit took place on October 2, giving the Micheletti government, the justices of the Supreme Court, the members of the electoral tribunal, and members of civil society a chance to speak out.

A second congressional delegation arrived in Honduras on October 5.

At all levels, people in Honduras know their electoral clock is ticking. They know the economic health and governability of their country is at risk. And, they realize that elections are the only way to put the nightmare of the past three months behind them.
Sadly, so very few in Washington are listening.