Obama nominates fundraiser to Paris post

[MADem]

20. I know for a FACT that wealthy ambassadors supplement the entertainment funds.

They'll also shell out to refurbish their quarters.

http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/plum-posts

In 1993, Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman shipped her renowned art collection, including Van Gogh’s White Roses (which she had received from her last husband, Averell Harriman), to the American ambassador’s residence, on Rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré in Paris. Days later the English-born socialite, famed for her meticulous elegance and her unparalleled ability to charm powerful men, arrived to take her position as the ambassador to France, appointed by President Clinton. Except perhaps among the Democratic Party insiders for whom she had raised millions and plotted campaign strategy, Harriman, who always kept the embassy awash in fresh orchids, was known more for her hosting abilities than for her deftness in trade talk and diplomacy.

In the aftermath of the killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Ben­ghazi, Libya, last September, it’s clearer than ever that the title "ambassador" connotes two very distinct jobs, with two wholly different candidate pools. When it comes to posts in Central America, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, or Haiti, deep ­pockets and chumminess with the commander-in-chief are incidental, at most, and usually irrelevant. (China and Mexico can fall into that category too, depending on the political climate.) Career diplomats are sent to those places, and they receive hardship allowances and danger pay to live in often perilous conditions and keep tabs on impending political uprisings, human rights abuses, and potential threats to America and its interests. Then there are the jobs in Western Europe — particularly France, Italy, and the United Kingdom — and other always friendly places such as New Zealand, Japan, and many Caribbean countries, where maintaining the status quo, through attending social functions and cultural events, is the bulk of the job description. These ambassadorships are hung like bait for wealthy and influential friends of would-be presidents.

"Cash for cachet” has been going on since this nation's early days, when the Founding Fathers appointed well-heeled friends to overseas posts. Since then influential nondiplomats have regularly been rewarded with the best embassy jobs. FDR made Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. ambassador to the U.K.; former child movie star Shirley Temple Black served in two ambassador posts under two different presidents; playwright, congresswoman, and socialite Clare Boothe Luce (wife of publisher Henry Luce) was ambassador to Italy under Eisenhower; and actor John Gavin served as ambassador to Mexico under Ronald Reagan. But more than fame, it’s campaign donations that can seal an appointment. In 1971, President Richard Nixon told White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman, “Anybody who wants to be an ambassador must at least give $250,000.” Haldeman agreed, according to released recordings, stating, “I think any contributor under $100,000 we shouldn’t consider for any kind of thing."

In the wake of Watergate, President Jimmy Carter signed the 1980 Foreign Service Act into law, which states that an appointed or assigned chief of mission should know a country’s language and have a deep “knowledge and understanding of the history, the culture, the economic and political institutions, and the interests of that country and its people.” The act also says, “Contributions to political campaigns should not be a factor ..... It’s a piece of legislation that no president since has had any qualms about ignoring. In part this is because wealth is an essential requirement for being an ambassador, at least in such high-profile posts as London and Paris. Campaign donations aren’t the end of the spending spree; they’re just the beginning. Not only do ambassadors abandon their private sector professions to serve, they inevitably use personal accounts for entertaining, decorating, and dressing like a diplomat, because Congress appropriates enough funds for embassies to operate, period — not operate stylishly. Pamela Harriman reportedly spent between $120,000 and $180,000 a year entertaining in Paris on behalf of her country.....