WASHINGTON: Stephen J, Solarz, the American Embassy in Indian was to have been the consolation prize that redeemed him from the ignominy of over-draft checks, redistricting and electoral defeat, if not quite the crowning glory of a political career that had ‘once made him a potential contender for secretary of state.
Instead, over a week ago, Solarz withdrew from consideration for the ambassadorship at the urging of the White House. He was a casualty not only of heightened ethical sensitivities in a capital awash in Whitewater but of his own piquant approach in nine terms in Congress. There
he went from being a Watergate-baby reformer of the class of 1974 to a power who could command an audience with almost any foreign leader but was often accused of ignoring his Brooklyn constituents.
The specific problem: Solarz’s efforts-first as Congressman and later as a private citizen last year-to obtain a visa for a Hong Kong businessman who turned out to have a criminal record, and for whom he was simultaneously working as a consultant on international business.
Though a month’s long F.B.I bribery investigation ended in January without charges, the White House ultimately chose not to go to the man for Solarz, a longtime expert on Asia whose own legislation had created the State Department bureau on South Asian affairs to which he would have reported from New Delhi.
But there was a broader-problem, too. In his climb to prominence, Solarz never suffered fools gladly, often condescended to less brainy colleagues and irritated scores of Foreign Service officers in posts around the world. He found himself short of friends who would fight hard for him when he could have used them most, first in the bitter 1992 battle over redrawing his Brooklyn district, then in his reelection fight and finally for his ambassadorial nomination.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 1, 1994
