Bill Shingleton, "Helms is Right: Weld Not Ambassador Quality," (Letter to the Editor) The Post-Tribune (Gary, IN) 19 June 1997:
In Washington, sometimes no action is the best action. Take, for example, the nomination of Massachusetts Gov. William Weld as ambassador to Mexico.
Standing in Weld's way is Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, who refused to schedule confirmation hearings. Given the gravity of the Mexican situation, Helm's stance is the correct one.
In recent months, narcotics have been the dominant issue in U.S.-Mexican relations. Helped by corrupt Mexican officials, drug traffickers flood across U.S. borders. Furthermore, Mexican authorities recently discovered that 27 federal officers had stolen and trafficked $10 million of cocaine.
America's response to this continued drug-running from Mexico was the extension of Mexico's certification as an ally in the drug war. However, while Mexico's president may be our ally, his police are certainly not. Thus, our ambassador needs to establish a strong program to help reform the drug police.
Effective aid programs require the coordination of departments ranging from the EPA to the DEA. However, tight budgets mean that the ambassador will have to do his job with meager funds. To establish an effective program, that ambassador must have administrative and counter-narcotics skills; Weld's record indicates that he has neither. As a U.S. attorney, his budget exploded by 87 percent. Furthermore, his anti-drug coordinator in Massachusetts was eventually removed after she went to Aruba on taxpayer money.
Moreover, Weld lacks the diplomatic and counter-narcotics background to serve as an effective ambassador. Weld's experience in Massachusetts hardly makes him an expert on Mexico. Nor do his public comments on drugs and other matters (which enraged Helms) indicate that he has much diplomatic ability.
For his part, Helms was right in saying that Weld is not "ambassador quality." However, he neglected to add that our Mexican policy is not of any quality.