White House Withdraws Pick for Ambassador to Belgium

Facing almost certain defeat in the Senate, the White House on Wednesday withdrew the ambassadorial nomination of Sam Fox, who contributed $50,000 to the Swift Boat veterans’ controversial campaign against Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., in the 2004 presidential race.

President Bush had nominated Fox, a St. Louis businessman, to be the U.S. envoy to Belgium.

The withdrawal, a rare setback for the sort of nomination that normally would sail through the Senate, reflected both the muscle Democrats are exercising in Congress and the problems likely to surround any Bush appointee linked to the attacks on Kerry.

Coupled with the Democratic-led investigations into whether politics played a central role in the recent firings of eight U.S. attorneys, the failed Fox nomination demonstrated the degree to which the landscape has changed for Bush on Capitol Hill.

Fox was a key donor to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that raised questions about Kerry’s record as a Navy lieutenant leading patrols along South Vietnam’s inland waterways during the Vietnam War. Kerry was awarded a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Heart decorations for his service in Vietnam, but the group -- in television advertisements and e-mail messages -- maintained he had exaggerated his actions in combat.

Kerry, joined by some who served with him, disputed the group’s claims. But many political analysts believe that he and his campaign were slow off the mark in responding to the Swift Boat veterans and that the group’s attacks hurt his credibility in his contest with Bush.

Kerry, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, subjected Fox to sharp questioning during the panel’s hearing on the nomination last month. Kerry scolded him for contributing to a group the senator said was “smearing and spreading lies.”

He pressed Fox on who sought the contribution, but the nominee said he could not remember. “I’ve given away sums much larger than that to a lot of other places and I can’t tell you specifically who asked me, no.”

In a statement issued shortly after the White House decision to withdraw the nomination was announced, Kerry said, “Sam Fox had every opportunity to disavow the politics of personal destruction and to embrace the truth. He chose not to.”

He added: “The White House made the right decision to withdraw the nomination. I hope this signals a new day in political discourse.”

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., like Kerry a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Fox’s “unwillingness to denounce the reprehensible activities of the Swift Boat organization and express regret for providing $50,000 to bankroll the organization convinced me that he would not be an acceptable candidate to represent the United States abroad.”

The nomination was withdrawn less than an hour before