Briefings draw GOP objection

Lugar critical of White House practice

WASHINGTON -- Political briefings given by Bush White House aides to high-ranking diplomats "were probably inappropriate" and should stop, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Tuesday.

The comments by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., were in contrast to White House assertions that the private briefings were not unusual or improper.

Starting in 2001, White House political aides gave at least a half-dozen briefings to top diplomats about key congressional and gubernatorial races and Bush's re-election goals, according to documents obtained by the Senate committee.

In a January 2007 session, senior Bush adviser Karl Rove briefed six ambassadors about Democratic incumbents targeted for defeat in 2008. Another political briefing occurred after the 2002 elections at the Peace Corps headquarters, the documents said.

Lugar, who headed the committee when Republicans controlled the Senate, said in an interview that the ambassadors' briefings "may have given an impression of a political organization continuing on while they were involved in their embassy posts. All things considered, I would prefer the briefings had not occurred."

At an afternoon hearing on Henrietta Fore's nomination to head the U.S. Agency for International Development, Lugar said, "I suspect it's not appropriate that you have charts of candidates coming and going at an official function attributed to Karl Rove or anyone else." He said he hoped the Bush White House and future administrations would "cease and desist" holding such briefings.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., noted that USAID employees attended at least two politically oriented briefings similar to those given to ambassadors. "I think it is a corruption of the process," Menendez told Fore. It is "an inappropriate use of the time of the men and women of AID," he said.

Fore, who is undersecretary of state for management, acknowledged that some department briefings by White House aides have dealt with "the political landscape." If confirmed at USAID, she said, she would review the agency's policies and practices for such "informational briefings."