January 26, 2002 - Orange County Register: Vasquez heads Peace Corps

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Headlines: Peace Corps Headlines - 2002: 01 January 2002 Peace Corps Headlines: January 26, 2002 - Orange County Register: Vasquez heads Peace Corps

By Admin1 (admin) on Saturday, January 26, 2002 - 10:57 am: Edit Post

Vasquez heads Peace Corps





Read and comment on this story from the Orange County Register on the confiramtion of Gaddi Vasquez as Peace Corps Director at:

Vasquez heads Peace Corps *

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



Vasquez heads Peace Corps

Ex-supervisor gets unanimous Senate confirmation after earlier doubts.

January 26, 2002

By DENA BUNIS The Orange County Register

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate on Friday unanimously approved former Orange County Supervisor Gaddi Vasquez as director of the Peace Corps.

Vasquez was one of a group of 40 presidential nominees confirmed without a roll call vote. The action came amid Bush administration complaints that the Democrat- controlled Senate has been dragging its feet on the president's appointees.

"I am pleased that the United States Senate has confirmed my nomination from President Bush," Vasquez, 46, said through a Peace Corps spokeswoman "I look forward to joining the Peace Corps and working with this fine organization that means so much to the world."

Vasquez's ascendancy to the job had its obstacles.

While White House officials expressed confidence throughout the process, Vasquez's lack of international experience, his role in Orange County's bankruptcy and strong opposition from a group of former corps volunteers were highlighted in a contentious confirmation hearing last December.

"I'm really disappointed," said John Coyne, one of the leaders of an Internet-based group of former Peace Corps volunteers called the Committee to Preserve the Peace Corps.

"It's up to Gaddi Vasquez how he wants to relate to the former volunteers."

Coyne and other critics say politics rather than policy played the major role in Vasquez's appointment. An adviser to Bush's presidential campaign, he transferred $100,000 from his dormant campaign treasury to the Bush effort.

But Vasquez had strong support for the $133,700-a- year job from California's two Democratic senators. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, spoke passionately in favor of his nomination.

"I think he deserves this chance," said Boxer, adding that Vasquez promised her he would expand the program. Especially after Sept. 11, she said, "in order to have a world where terrorism doesn't flourish, we have a lot of work to do to build democracy," and the Peace Corps can help.



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By Admin1 (admin) on Saturday, January 26, 2002 - 6:55 pm: Edit Post

Read our editorial on the debate over the Gaddi Vasquez nomination for Peace Corps Director, what it means to the Returned Volunteer community, and where we go from here at:

Editorial: Returned Volunteers should be Proud 26 January


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