Read and comment on this excerpt from a story on the Future of the Peace Corps from the LA Times:

...the Peace Corps is about to undergo a change at the highest levels as the
Bush administration prepares to nominate as its new director former Orange
County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, a political supporter of President Bush
with no overt background in humanitarian issues or international affairs.

His nomination has drawn grumbles from some former volunteers who argue that
Bush should have dipped into the pool of 160,000 returned volunteers to find a
director, instead of his political supporters. Yet most of the Peace Corps' 15 past
directors came from outside the agency, many with little relevant experience.

More vexing to some former volunteers is Vasquez's lack of experience directing
large organizations, said Hugh Pickens, a former volunteer in Peru now operating
the Baltimore-based Web site http://www.peacecorpsonline.org.

"Mr. Vasquez appears to have no CEO experience," Pickens said. "This is a
large organization. Basically, he's been an elected official, and his position right
now appears to be kind of a PR man. The director should be someone who has
some experience as a manager of a large organization."

Vasquez has declined comment on his nomination while it is pending. The White
House is conducting a background check before forwarding his name to the
Senate for confirmation.

Read the full story at:

LA Times: After 40 Years, the Peace Corps Confronts New Set of Challenges

By Admin1 (admin) on Monday, August 20, 2001 - 10:22 am: Edit Post

The link to the LA Times story has expired.

If you want to read the original story you will
have to go to the archives of the Times and pay
for the article. To find the argicle, go to the archives
link below and search on "Gaddi" for August 2001:

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/