Rice stands fast on Bolton nomination
Senate Democratic leader says process must run its course
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 Bolton faces criticism over his treatment of subordinates.
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| JOHN R. BOLTON | AGE: 56; born November 20, 1948, in Baltimore, Maryland
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree from Yale University, summa cum laude, 1970; law degree from Yale Law School, 1974
EXPERIENCE: Undersecretary of state for arms control and international security since May 11, 2001; assistant U.S. attorney general, 1985-1989; assistant administrator for program and policy coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982-1983; general counsel, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1981-1982; associate at the Washington office of Covington & Burling, 1974-81; partner in the law firm of Lerner, Reed, Bolton & McManus, 1993-99
FAMILY: Married to the former Gretchen Brainerd; one daughter.
Source: AP
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(CNN) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the Senate on Monday to move forward on the nomination of John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said, meanwhile, that the vetting process on Bolton must continue amid mounting complaints that the nominee doesn't have the temperament for the job.
Their comments came a day after Newsweek hit the stands with an article in which it reported British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw complained about Bolton to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell in November 2003.
Citing a "former Bush administration official who was there," Newsweek said Straw told Powell that Bolton -- Powell's undersecretary for arms control and international security -- was making it impossible to reach an agreement on Iran's nuclear program.
According to the official, Newsweek reported, Powell turned to an aide and said, "Get a different view on [the Iranian problem]. Bolton is being too tough." (Full story)
Speaking to reporters in Crawford, Texas, where she and President Bush met with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Rice said that she and the president believe "John Bolton is the right person for this job."
"We need a strong voice at the United Nations who can participate in and, indeed, lead in an extremely important reform debate that is going on now in the United Nations," Rice said.
The United States, she said, "has got to have somebody there to be engaged in that reform."
"I would really hope now that people will move forward on John Bolton's nomination," she said.
Reid said the Senate process needs to run its course.
"I don't know whether Bolton's going to make it or not. But people shouldn't be up in arms now. This is a process we need to have," Reid said in an interview on CNN.
"Let's find out if he's qualified, both from a perspective of his experience, which appears to be the case, but I don't know about his temperament."
The Foreign Relations Committee postponed a vote on Bolton's nomination last week after a Republican member, Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, joined Democrats in asking for more time to investigate fresh allegations about the nominee's conduct. (Full story)
Two other Republican members, Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, have left it unclear whether they would support Bolton.
According to a report Friday, Hagel and Chafee have both solicited Powell's advice on Bolton. (Full story)
Powell has not spoken publicly about the nomination. He did not sign a letter to the committee by seven former U.S. secretaries of state and defense in support of Bolton.
The Foreign Relations Committee, dominated 10-8 by Republicans, is scheduled to meet again May 12. A majority vote in favor is needed to send the nomination to the Senate floor. A tie would be the same as a no vote.
Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the committee's Republican chairman, said its plans "would include the possibility that Secretary Bolton might be asked to come back for additional testimony."
Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Democratic member of the committee, said Sunday that Bolton should withdraw his name.
"He would do himself, and I think the country, a favor by withdrawing," Dodd said.
The Newsweek article said that in addition to making it tough for an agreement on Iran's nuclear program, British officials "at the highest level" persuaded the White House to keep Bolton off the negotiating team that ultimately convinced Libya to give up its nuclear program.
Bolton was unwilling to support a compromise under which the United States would drop its goal of regime change in exchange for Libya's disarmament, the magazine reported.
The magazine quoted one Bush official as calling the accounts of both incidents "flatly untrue."
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the U.S. government didn't put much weight into the credibility of the article.
"Those involved in those discussions in London don't have any recollection of the foreign secretary saying any such thing," he said.
Ereli added that when Bolton was nominated, Straw wrote to him "congratulating him on his nomination and saying that he looked forward to working with him."
Bolton is not responding to allegations in the media while his confirmation process is under way.
Nomination plagued
Questions about Bolton's treatment of those he works with, particularly subordinates, as well as alleged efforts to pressure some in the intelligence community have plagued his nomination from the start.
One former State Department official testified Bolton is "a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy." (Full story)
Bolton and his supporters have denied the allegations.
The White House has blasted Senate Democrats for delaying the vote, saying Bolton has been the victim of trumped-up complaints. (Full story)
Reid disagreed. "I don't think any of the charges to this point have been trumped up," he said.
One of the allegations was recounted Friday in a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, from Lynne Finney, a former U.N. policy adviser for the U.S. Agency for International Development. (Full story)
In the letter, Finney recalled working with Bolton at the State Department in late 1982 or early 1983, saying that he had asked her to persuade U.N. representatives from other countries to weaken restrictions on the marketing of infant formula in developing countries.
When she refused, citing serious health reasons, Bolton "said he was ordering me" and then "screamed that I was fired," Finney recounted.
When fellow attorneys said the firing was illegal, she stayed and Bolton "retaliated" by moving her to "a shabby windowless office in the basement in order to force me to leave," Finney wrote.
She said Peter McPherson, then USAID administrator, apologized for Bolton's behavior.
McPherson -- whom the White House named chairman of the board for International Food and Agricultural Development in 2002 -- told CNN he had no recollection of the events Finney described.
