Date: 2000-03-20
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SENATE RECORD VOTE ANALYSIS
101st Congress 1st Session October 3, 1989, 3:30 p.m. Page S-12403 Temp. Record Vote No. 223
ZAPPALA NOMINATION/Ambassador to Spain
SUBJECT:
Nomination of Joseph Zappala, of Florida, to be Ambassador to Spain. Confirmation.
NOMINATION CONFIRMED, 79 - 20
SYNOPSIS:
Joseph Zappala was born September 11, 1933, in New York City. A graduate of the New York Institute of Finance, Mr. Zappala is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Joseph Zappala and Associates, and Chairman of Home Town Investors, Inc., both located in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Also, he is the owner and Chairman of Tucson Greyhound Park in Tucson, Arizona. Mr. Zappala is a member of both the Board of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and the Board of the Police Athletic League in St. Petersburg, Florida. Mr. Zappala serves as President of STRAIGHT, Inc., a non-profit drug treatment program for young people. In addition, Mr. Zappala is the past chairman of the Pinellas Association for Retarded Children.
Mr. Zappala served as Pinellas County, Florida, Finance Co-Chairman of the George Bush for President campaign in 1979, and was the Finance Co-Chairman for the 1988 George Bush for President campaign in Florida. He was also National Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee's Team 100, a fund-raising organization. Following the 1988 election, Zappala served as National Co-Chairman of Finance for the Inauguration.
Married with four children, Mr. Zappala's awards include the Ben Gurion Award, the Tree of Life Award, and the Gates of Jerusalem Award in 1983 for his internationally recognized commitment to the state of Israel.
Those favoring confirmation contended:
It is a pleasure and an honor to support the confirmation of Joseph Zappala to be Ambassador to Spain. Mr. Zappala is one of Florida's leading businessmen, with an extensive record of community service and charitable work in areas ranging from adolescent drug abuse to mental retardation. He has a history of political involvement--a hallmark of the American experience. His business, community, and political involvement are a testament to his dedication to public service.
While some question his qualifications, there is no doubt that in four key areas--management, advocacy, negotiation, and coalition-building--Mr. Zappala is eminently qualified to serve as an Ambassador. In his numerous enterprises, he has been responsible for the well-being of over 1,000 people. He can apply these managerial skills with great effect to the embassy in Spain, which has over 100 employees from several government agencies. As founder of STRAIGHT, Inc., a non-profit drug-treatment program that has counseled over 10,000 youths nationwide, and as chairman of the Pinellas Association for Retarded Children (PARC), which tripled in membership under his direction, Mr. Zappala has demonstrated advocacy skills which will serve him well as an advocate for the United States. His involvement in the political campaigns of George Bush, beginning in 1979 and culminating with last year's Presidential election, clearly called upon his talents as a negotiator and coalition-builder, skills necessary to an Ambassador who both represents the United States to a valued ally and heads an embassy which performs many different and difficult tasks.
Critics of Mr. Zappala's nomination assert that, as he knows no Spanish, he will be ineffective in his post. True, Mr. Zappala does not know Spanish; recognizing this lack, however, he has enrolled in Spanish classes, and has applied his knowledge of Italian, a language similar to Spanish, to his language studies. (Incidentally, according to a State Department study, between 1983 to 1985, 21 percent of Foreign Service officers were promoted into the Senior Foreign Service despite the fact their language skills did not qualify them for promotion.) Some opponents of the nomination believe that Mr. Zappala has little understanding of Spain's history, politics, or relations with the United States. At his hearings before the Foreign Relations Committee earlier this year, though, Mr. Zappala demonstrated an ample knowledge of these areas, most specifically the course of recent negotiations leading to the removal of United States armed forces from Spain.
Opponents of the Zappala nomination criticize Mr. Zappala because he is not a member of the Foreign Service. While career Foreign Service officers are dedicated men and women who have devoted their careers to the pursuit of public service and foreign policy, foreign policy is an art, not a science. A President's foreign policy is shaped not only by events, but by his moral and philosophical analysis of foreign policy. For that reason, all Presidents have sprinkled throughout the Ambassadorial ranks key political advisers and supporters who understand the President they serve and the philosophy he holds. The nomination of Mr. Zappala, a friend and supporter of George Bush for many years, reflects the need of the President to insure that his foreign policy will be executed as he wishes. Mr. Zappala's nomination as Ambassador to Spain should be confirmed.
Those opposing the nomination contended:
Mr. Zappala's nomination as Ambassador to Spain is one more in a long string of unqualified nominations for diplomatic posts abroad, and it should be rejected.
Since 1975, when Spain returned to the fold of democratic nations, she has joined the European Economic Community and the NATO alliance, played a vital role in the Central American peace process, and worked with the United States as an important partner in a broad array of diplomatic, political, and economic initiatives. Recognizing the importance of Spain, the United States has sent to Madrid a series of senior career Foreign Service officers to serve as Ambassador to Spain over the past 15 years.
Given the history of Spain's importance to the U.S. and the long series of qualified Ambassadors we have sent them, the nomination of Mr. Zappala is a joke. He did not even fill out the necessary background questionnaire when he was considered for the post of Ambassador to Spain. A public relations consultant filled out the questionnaire, copying answers from the questionnaire of another Ambassadorial candidate (who was subsequently offered the post of Ambassador to Australia). Mr. Zappala cannot speak Spanish. Supporters of his nomination assert that his ability to speak Italian will be a help in speaking Spanish. This is nonsense. If colleges in this country do not credit in one language for a facility in another, why should the United States?
While Mr. Zappala's civic and philanthropic activities demonstrate a community responsibility that more businessmen should embody, they do not qualify him to be considered by the Bush Administration to be Ambassador to Spain. What qualified him was his fund-raising work on behalf of the President over the past ten years. Robert Mosbacher, the chief fund-raiser for the Bush 1988 campaign, and currently the Secretary of the Commerce Department, complained in February that not enough campaign contributors were being offered political appointments, including Ambassadorships. Mr. Zappala worked hard to raise money for both the President and the Republican party, and this Ambassadorship is his reward. We believe that Ambassadorships should not be auctioned off to the highest fundraisers in a campaign; they should be granted to deserving prospects, either career Foreign Service officers or political appointees with demonstrated diplomatic aptitude.
Under the Constitution, the advise and consent responsibility is one of the most important functions of the Senate. Each non-qualified Ambassadorial nominee approved by the Senate cheapens that function. We urge that Joseph Zappala be rejected as Ambassador to Spain.
VOTING YEA:
Republicans:
(44 or 98%) Armstrong Bond Boschwitz Burns Chafee Coats Cochran Cohen D'Amato Danforth Dole Domenici Garn Gorton Gramm Grassley Hatch Hatfield Heinz Helms Humphrey Jeffords Kassebaum Kasten Lott Lugar Mack McCain McClure McConnell Murkowski Nickles Packwood Pressler Roth Rudman Simpson Specter Stevens Symms Thurmond Wallop Warner Wilson
Democrats:
(35 or 65%) Baucus Bentsen Bingaman Boren Bradley Breaux Bryan Burdick Conrad Daschle DeConcini Dixon Exon Glenn Graham Harkin Heflin Hollings Inouye Johnston Kerrey Kerry Kohl Lautenberg Leahy Levin Lieberman Matsunaga Pryor Reid Riegle Robb Rockefeller Shelby Wirth
VOTING NAY:
Republicans:
(1 or 2%) Durenberger
Democrats:
(19 or 35%) Adams Biden Bumpers Byrd Cranston Dodd Fowler Gore Kennedy Metzenbaum Mikulski Mitchell Moynihan Nunn Pell Sanford Sarbanes Sasser Simon
NOT VOTING:
Republicans:
(0)
Democrats:
(1) Ford-4
ABSENCE CODE: 1-Official Business 2-Nec. absent 3-Illness 4-Other Symbols: AY-Announced Yea AN-Announced Nay PY-Paired Yea PN-Paired Nay
Compiled and written by the staff of the Senate Republican Policy Committee
William L. Armstrong, Chairman
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