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Gramm: FDIC chief
Bloomberg News
Tanoue unlikely to get
second termWASHINGTON -- Senate Banking Chairman Phil Gramm doesn't plan to confirm former Hawaii banking regulator Donna Tanoue to a second term as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., a spokeswoman for the senator said.
President Clinton in January renominated Tanoue, 46, to a six-year term after her current tenure expires Oct. 3. She was first tapped to head the agency that administers deposit insurance in November 1997 to complete the term of former Chairman Ricki Helfer.
Gramm previously has indicated that Clinton's nominations for terms that reach far into the next administration may not see action. That includes Federal Reserve Board nominees Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson and former Chase Manhattan Corp. executive Carol Parry.
"Chairman Gramm has said repeatedly that the voters of the United States are about to select a new president," said Gramm spokeswoman Christi Harlan. "No matter what party that president is from, he deserves the right to pick his own nominees."
White House spokesman Jake Siewert responded, "The Senate has a responsibility to act on nominations, whether it is an election year or not. In the past, when Democrats controlled Congress, they acted on Republican nominations, and the Republicans in Congress now have an obligation to do the same."
Tanoue won Senate confirmation in April 1998 on a voice vote after a unanimous recommendation from the Banking Committee.
Tanoue can stay in office after her term expires until a successor is sworn in.
Harlan said the committee hasn't begun to evaluate Tanoue's performance or qualifications. Tanoue was credited with restoring stability to Hawaii's thrift industry, overseeing the Manoa Finance Co. and Great Hawaiian Financial Corp. bailouts, while serving as financial services commissioner between 1983 and 1987. Before joining the FDIC in May 1998, Tanoue was a partner at the Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel law firm in Honolulu and a member of the University of Hawaii's Board of Regents.
She also served as Sen. Daniel Inouye's campaign manager in 1992 and 1995 and is a former board member of the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii.
Tanoue, a Kalani High School graduate, received a bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
