President – Gray Davis
Vice President – Dick Durbin
Secretary of State – Joe Biden
Secretary of the Treasury – Tom Steyer
Secretary of Defense – Carl Levin* (continuing role)
Attorney General – Deval Patrick
Secretary of the Interior – John Berry
Secretary of Agriculture – Jim Doyle
Secretary of Commerce – Norm Mineta
Secretary of Labor – Linda Chavez-Thompson
Secretary of Health and Human Services – David Satcher
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development – Saul N. Ramirez Jr.
Secretary of Transportation – Jeff Morales
Secretary of Energy – Mike Castle
Secretary of Education – Gary Locke
Secretary of Veterans Affairs – Charles Cragin*
White House Chief of Staff – Susan Kennedy
White House Press Secretary – Roger Salazar
Trade Representative – Stuart Eizenstat
Director of the Office of Management and Budget – Jack Lew*
Ambassador to the United Nations – Susan Rice
Director of National Intelligence – Claudia Kennedy
Director of National Drug Control Policy – Tom Umberg
National Security Advisor – Gary Hart
Solicitor General – Eliot Spitzer
Director of Environmental Protection Agency – Mary Nichols
Director of Homeland Security – Tim Roemer
Director of Central Intelligence Agency– Jami Miscik*
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Jim Johnson*
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs - James L. Jones
Chairman of the Federal Reserve – Roger Ferguson*
Senate
President: Dick Durbin (D)
President pro tempore: Ted Stevens (R)
Majority (Republican) leadership
Majority Leader: Mitch McConnell
Majority Whip: Rick Santorum
Minority (Democratic) leadership
Minority Leader: Tom Daschle
Minority Whip: Harry Reid
House of Representatives
Speaker: Nancy Pelosi
Majority (Democratic) leadership
Majority Leader: Bob Menendez
Majority Whip: Jim Clyburn
Minority (Republican) leadership
Minority Leader: Tom DeLay
Minority Whip: John Boehner
It was grey but relatively warm day in Washington. Newly sworn-in President Gray Davis gave an acceptable speech to moderately sized crowd. Former Presidents Gore and Clinton were in attendance. While he maintained a mostly private lifestyle and was working on a book, his wife Hillary was more involved in activism, rumored to be the next President of Planned Parenthood. Former President George HW Bush was there as well. The most recent Republican President had left office 12 years ago. Although the margins had been slim, the Republican Party still seemed dazed after being shut out of the White House for 4 elections straight. How long ago the days of Reagan felt. Pundits, as they do, asked if there was a “permanent Democratic majority”, despite Republicans still controlling the Senate. This split in government became painful obvious in short order.
On February 16, the Kyoto Protocol came into effect. The United States had not ratified the treaty, but was compliant and still a signatory. President Gray’s appointee for EPA Administrator had been one of the more grueling processes. His selection, Mary Nichols, was pilloried by Environment and Public Works Chair Jim Inhofe. She only passed the committee by one vote, with Lincoln Chafee defecting. Nichols was a prime example of the early struggles the Davis Administration faced. Most of them were appearance or messaging related. Despite her previous federal service, was also a member of what some media coverage had dubbed the “Cali Club”, of high ranking appointments going to Golden State figures. Most visible was Tom Steyer, hedge fund millionaire turned political activist/donor, who Davis appointed to be Treasury Secretary. Other members of the Cali Club included Norm Mineta at Commerce, Jeff Morales at Transportation, Susan Kennedy for Chief of Staff, and various deputy and lower positions. Susan Kennedy as Chief of Staff was the most concerning pick in Democratic circles. Early rumors were that Davis would pick Leon Panetta, former Congressman and Clinton Chief of Staff, who was well respected in Washington, but it did not come to be. With Kennedy as Chief of Staff and Garry South as Senior Advisor, the people closest to the President were new to Washington. Even with the White House remaining in Democratic hands, it felt like a massive transition of power to some people who suddenly found themselves on the outside.
Women’s groups were frustrated by Davis’s initial process as well. As Vice President Feinstein left office, it felt like a step back in representation. 2004 saw a record number of women elected to Congress and then Pelosi became the first woman speaker, but the Davis Administration was found lacking. In particular, there was frustration that all of the “Big Four” Cabinet positions were filled by men – Joe Biden at State, Tom Steyer at Treasury, Deval Patrick as Attorney General, and Carl Levin was staying on as Defense Secretary. Patrick as Chief of Staff, arguably the second most powerful position in Washington, was little consolidation. Other prominent women appointments were also less visible compared to the Vice Presidency - Linda Chavez-Thompson as Labor Secretary, Nichols at EPA, Susan Rice as UN Ambassador, and Claudia Kennedy as Director of National Intelligence. Davis did gain support from LGBT groups, however. Chief of Staff Kennedy was openly lesbian, which certainly was part of her frosty acceptance on Capitol Hill. Elizabeth Birch, former executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, was made Domestic Affairs Advisor. At the Cabinet level, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Director John Berry, who was openly gay, was appointed to be Interior Secretary and Davis basically dared Republicans to block the very qualified appointee. For those who hoped for more bipartisan representation from Davis than Gore, there was some disappointment when the only notable Republican appointed was Delaware Representative Mike Castle, a notable GOP voice on climate change, as Energy Secretary.
In April, Pope John Paul II passed and it was poignant for American Catholics to see their Catholic President attend his funeral. While the 9/11 crash and War in Afghanistan had been the largest story of the past 5 years in the States, worldwide (and second at home) was the on-going revelations into the extent of the Catholic abuse scandal and cover-up. Davis was clear that he was only paying his respects to a world leader, not a subservient worshiper. It probably helped Davis and Durbin that they were refused communion, separating them from the institution. The imagery of a Catholic President at the Vatican spread rapidly in fringe, conspiratorial communities, mostly online.
Davis quickly found legislative success - the first bill to pass was a bipartisan intelligence community strengthening and reform act. He lost some liberal votes but found support among Republicans. A bipartisan Senate and House group called the “Gang of 8” was working on immigration reform. But these easy days were not here to stay. Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced his retirement in the spring of 2005 for the summer recess. To replace Souter, President Davis nominated Second Circuit Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor's appointment cause a great debate among Senate Republicans but her appointment was not blocked outright, mostly because it did not upset the ideological balance of the court. Sotomayor had originally been appointed a federal judge by President Bush and was considered a moderate on the bench. President Gray Davis deserved his nominees, despite the Republican Senate majority, the standard consensus stated. The center held firm and Sotomayor became the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. This consensus would soon shatter. While President Davis was handling the fallout from Hurrican Karen, Chief Justice William Rehnquist died on September 3, 2005, and all of Washington came to a halt.
Rehnquist’s passing was not surprising but still shocking; the Chief Justice had been battling cancer for months but his decline happened swiftly. Unlike the comparatively painless Souter replacement, the moderately conservative majority on the Supreme Court that existed since Nixon was seemingly doomed if Davis appointed an outright liberal justice. But a candidate would still need to pass Senate approval. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell knew that he had a powerful hand. Thankfully for Democrats, the hardliners were not in total domination. The Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee was the collegial centrist Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. A Senate veteran, himself undergoing chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma, he could not be bullied into the party’s new hardline. He still believed in the old school style of Senate comradery, with friends of both sides of the aisle.
Davis knew he was in a tough situation. White House staffers searched for independent and even liberal Republican nominees who could be acceptable justices. Despite speaking a hard line, McConnell knew there were enough Republican swing votes for cloture. Senate Republicans knew they had to fill the seat, ignoring some of the more radical suggestions coming from right-wing media voices to deny Davis any appointment. The current situation, with Sotomayor recently confirmed and without a Chief Justice, was untenable. Liberal bloggers meanwhile were suggesting that President Davis could theoretically make a recess appointment for Chief Justice. A new liberal majority would be potentially more transformational than any presidency. Outflanking McConnell, Specter negotiated a compromise. The Chief Justice role had considerable sway over the business of the highest court. It would be extremely concerning for Republicans if a young, liberal justice were to become Chief Justice and dominate for decades. Behind closed doors, Davis and Specter came to an agreement. Davis nominated current Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for Chief Justice, the first woman to be in that role. Although liberal, at 71 years old, her tenure would not be expansive. To replace her as an associate justice, Davis would need to nominate a moderate choice. Democrats had reshaped the Judiciary after 12 years of owning the White House, and the Republican Party wanted to retain some influence over the Supreme Court.
The idea of appointing a Republican Senator, either currently sitting or recently retired in an attempt to placate the institution gained some traction but the choices were limited. There were very few pro-choice, a pre-requisite for a Democratic nominee, Republicans in the Senate with the correct legal background. Tom Ridge, former Governor of Pennsylvania, did not have the right credentials for a Supreme Court seat. Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld did, but was considered too liberal for Senate Republicans, especially on gay marriage. It took some effort, but eventually President Davis nominated Pamela Rymer. Originally appointed to the federal bench by Reagan, then escalated to the 9th Circuit to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy by Bush, Rymer had a personable disposition and level-headed approach that was praised by her fellow justices. Her recent decision in
Planned Parenthood vs. American Coalition of Life Activists, that death threats against abortion doctors were not protected by the First Amendment, gave Davis cover from the left. A Stanford graduate, Rymer had California connections which softened her to Davis. McConnell played hardball the entire process but Rymer’s confirmation continued slowly. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison was an example of the cooperative Republican wing - saying she did not think she would vote for the candidates directly but criticized those who wanted to “stifle debate”. After months of posturing and hearings, both Ginsburg and Rymer were approved with under 60 votes. President Gray Davis seemed like the master bipartisan figure he ran as in 2004. It would slip away.
As the drama in Washington occurred, President Davis was dealing with the most active hurricane season on record. Even though it was not the most powerful of the season, Hurricane Karen had the largest impact on American soil. In coordination with Louisiana Governor David Vitter, a massive mandatory evacuation was ordered across the state, including New Orleans. Similar actions were taken across the Gulf Coast. Multiple breaks in the levees around the city led to massive flooding and damage. Swift recovery efforts only mitigated the damage. The sheer scale of the damage shocked the nation. Later, an independent commission established by President Davis and Congress put the official death count at just shy of 400 and the total damage caused at over $90 billion. In quick secession, Hurricane Karen was outpowered by storms Rina and Wendy. Both also struck the United States but with lesser consequences. In advance of Rina, Texas Governor Rick Perry ordered the largest evacuation in American history. The damage at home overshadowed the deadliest storm - Hurricane Seth had hit Central America, where over 1500 had died in Guatemala alone. Traditional pillars in the face of rapid tragedies like the Red Cross were overwhelmed. The warmer-than-average Gulf water temperatures were seen as an early effect of climate change by advocates.
