Confirmation

For those who have been wondering how low NBC can go in this year of the wheels coming off its prime-time schedule, I direct your attention to "Confirmation: The Hard Evidence of Aliens Among Us?" tonight on the once-mighty Peacock Network."Confirmation" is a two-hour "reality" special featuring scary music, junk science, "re-creations" of aliens experimenting on humans and a narrator asking such questions as, "What is the alien agenda?" and "Could an alien race actually be conducting a large-scale abduction campaign?"

FINALLY the Senate has confirmed Richard C. Holbrooke as permanent representative to the United Nations. To the Senate's eternal shame, it took 14 months, during which the national interest suffered.It was all right to oppose Mr. Holbrooke. Some people criticize the nation's Balkans policy, of which he was a chief architect. Others suspected an ethics question in his revolving-door career.Neither objection mustered support sufficient to block confirmation. Rather, four Republican senators exercised senatorial privilege to put a "hold" on the vote, to put pressure on unrelated issues.

The White House confirmed yesterday that Rear Adm. John R. Ryan, commander of the Navy's air forces in the Mediterranean, is President Clinton's pick to become the superintendent of the Naval Academy this summer.Pentagon sources previously acknowledged that Ryan was front-runner for the job, and Defense Secretary William S. Cohen made it official yesterday when he announced that Clinton would forward Ryan's name to the Senate for confirmation. Clinton also nominated Ryan for a promotion from two-star to three-star admiral.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate is once again mired in a confirmation squabble over one of President Clinton's appointments, this time involving a nominee whose selection once appeared a sure thing.In September, Clinton seemed to have finessed a lingering problem -- filling the long-vacant and often-controversial surgeon general post -- when he tapped Dr. David Satcher for the job.Satcher, a highly respected physician and educator who until recently headed the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was regarded as a solid and noncontroversial choice.

WASHINGTON -- William F. Weld resigned as governor of Massachusetts yesterday to fight for the post of ambassador to Mexico, adding a dramatic new ingredient to a confirmation battle that has defied convention from the beginning.In stepping down, the unpredictable Weld was gambling that the force of his personality would "change the rules in Washington" and overcome the opposition of his fellow Republican, Sen. Jesse Helms."I've got a very straightforward case to make. You know, it's the American way: fairness, due process," Weld told reporters in Boston a few hours before he announced his resignation.

WASHINGTON -- In keeping with the post-election bonhomie hovering between Capitol Hill and the White House, President Clinton's Cabinet nominees have sailed through their confirmation hearings with ease and speed.Until now. Two nominations -- Anthony Lake, tapped to direct the Central Intelligence Agency, and Alexis M. Herman, selected to head the Labor Department -- are being held up by Senate Republicans who are investigating entanglements that threaten each confirmation.If they decide to play hardball, Republicans on the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee could use Herman's nomination as a forum for airing the Clinton administration's campaign finance irregularities.

PRESIDENT CLINTON, newly re-elected but facing a formidable 10-vote Republican majority in the Senate, is putting together a brand new foreign policy team. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Secretary of Defense William Perry are leaving. With the world in perpetual crisis or semi-crisis, Mr. Clinton can ill-afford protracted confirmation fights over his nominees to fill these two key posts. If he really wants to work with the GOP opposition, here is where he has to start.Would-be successors at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon will face hearings before two crusty Republican southerners -- Sen. Jesse Helms, head of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Strom Thurmond, chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

Immigration imperils U.S. environmentSteve Weinberg's Perspective article of Nov. 10 fails to recognize the immoral impact of uncontrolled immigration, and indeed population growth, on what is left of wildlife and the rest of creation in the United States.Of course, America cannot just treat the symptom and close the doors; we must put most of our energy into eliminating the problems that lead people to decide to emigrate. And we must work for a more equitable standard of living throughout the world.

Due to an editing error, an article Sunday about the nomination of Robert R. Neall to fill the state Senate seat held by the late John A. Cade incorrectly reported the confirmation procedure. Gov. Parris N. Glendening is required to confirm Neall. He must do so within 15 days.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 12/10/96

COULD IT BE that the Federal Reserve Board is retiring to the sidelines for the remainder of the presidential campaign? There were solid reasons for the Fed's decision this week to leave short-term interest rates where they are. Yet it would require a big burst of credulity to suppose politics is not entering into the central bank's deliberations.As the campaign heats up, Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's reappointment to a seven-year term is before the Senate, as are President Clinton's new appointees to the board, Alice M. Rivlin and Laurence H. Meyer.

WASHINGTON - -Maryland Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez easily won Senate confirmation Tuesday as the new head of the civil rights division at the Justice Department. The bipartisan tally was 72-22, with both of Maryland's Democratic senators voting in favor. All of the negative votes were cast by Republicans. Perez, a former staff attorney in the division, called his new post "a dream job. And there's a lot of work to be done." The one-time University of Maryland law professor, whose last day in state government will be Wednesday, expressed gratitude that nearly half the Republican senators who voted had supported his nomination.

New talks are under way that should finally clear the way for the confirmation of federal Judge Andre M. Davis of Baltimore to the long-vacant "Maryland seat" on a federal appeals court, Senate sources said Thursday. Democratic and Republican Senate leaders have been negotiating the exact timing of confirmation votes on several of President Barack Obama's judicial nominees, including Davis. A deal could be reached by early next week, clearing the way for quick confirmation by the full Senate, a Senate staffer said.

BAGHDAD - -Iraq has appealed to Iran to free three American hikers after concluding that the trio who apparently strayed across the Iranian border were just lost tourists, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Sunday. Zebari said he had no reason to believe the three would soon be freed and had heard no word from the Iranians since making the request last week during a meeting with Iran's ambassador to Iraq But he hoped for an answer in the coming days, the foreign minister said. Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 30, and Josh Fattal, 27, have been in Iranian custody since they crossed into Iran on July 31 while hiking through a scenic mountainous area of Iraq's northern Kurdistan region.

WASHINGTON - -The near-party line vote Tuesday to approve Judge Sonia Sotomayor in the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a message that Supreme Court nominees cannot be assured of winning support in the Senate even if they have solid legal credentials and a moderate record. It also sent a warning that a more liberal nominee from President Barack Obama could provoke an all-out confirmation battle in the Senate. By a 13-6 vote, the Democrats and a lone Republican sent her nomination to the full Senate, where she is expected to win confirmation next week.

WASHINGTON -In the annals of the capital's acid partisanship, their names are boldfaced: candidates for America's highest civil rights post who never got confirmed. During the last Democratic administration, conservatives succeeded in blocking Senate approval of Lani Guinier and Bill Lann Lee to head the civil rights division at the Justice Department. Now, they're gearing up to put Thomas E. Perez, a Maryland lawyer selected for the job by President Barack Obama, through the grinder.

There's a chink in Tom Daschle's suit of armor. The Washington veteran tapped by President Barack Obama to lead his health care reform crusade has a tax problem. And he is supposed to be one of the new administration's change agents - charged with replacing Washington's fat cat insider culture with a clean, open and responsible regime. Mr. Daschle's reputation from his days in the Senate is of a model politician: clean-cut, well-spoken and smart. Since losing his Senate seat in 2004, he has made more than $5 million as a lawyer, lobbyist and adviser to a private equity firm.

Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III sailed through a City Council confirmation hearing yesterday evening, with council members praising his style and stressing the drop in crime since he took over the department in November. The commissioner fielded easy questions from the members of the Executive Appointments Committee, all of whom praised Bealefeld's crime plan and his frequent stops in their neighborhoods. "This was one of the first times I didn't see anyone speak in opposition," said Robert W. Curran, the chairman of the committee.

A victory for students A silly dispute over a proposed period of shared planning time has ended as it should have, with a decision in favor of Baltimore teachers joining with principals for one period each week to trade ideas on successes in the classroom. As the new kid on the block last year, city schools CEO Andres Alonso nearly had the welcome mat pulled out from under him by the teachers union, which stubbornly resisted his call for collaborative planning. Many effective schools use these joint sessions to figure out ways to improve student achievement.

Wrong person for Justice Department Like many people, I was initially relieved that in nominating Michael B. Mukasey to head the Justice Department, President Bush seemed to have put forward a plausible candidate Democrats and Republicans could accept ("Confirmation gets a boost," Nov. 3). At last, it seemed the president had found someone to guide the process of restoring the department's image and effectiveness following former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales' disgraceful and disastrous tenure.

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee signaled yesterday that it planned to proceed with a confirmation hearing for Attorney General-designate Michael B. Mukasey without documents from the White House that it once deemed critical to investigating suspected abuses under Alberto R. Gonzales. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in a letter to Mukasey yesterday that he intended to hold the nominee to a higher standard in light of the administration's refusal to turn over subpoenaed materials about the politically charged firing last year of nine U.S. attorneys and other matters.