Will Real Gore Backdrop Please Stand Up?; [FINAL Edition] Al Kamen. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Dec 24, 1999. pg. A.13 No. 136, the Lowest-Rated Ambassador Judging from a stinging report by the State Department Office of Inspector General, Ambassador to Romania James C. Rosapepe has never studied the Dale Carnegie classic, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." "In 44 personal questionnaires OIG received," the September report said, "the ambassador scored an average of 3.28 out of a possible 10 in management/leadership categories." The former Maryland House of Delegates member's scores in seven of those categories "were the lowest recorded by OIG for any of the 136 ambassadors, charges d'affaires, and assistant or deputy assistant secretaries rated by their staff since 1991." Yikes! As a result, the report said, "stress levels are high, morale is not." The report credits Rosapepe, a Clinton political appointee, for his diligent trade promotion efforts--though companies accused him of playing favorites--and for his work to keep Romania from bolting from the NATO line during the Kosovo campaign. But the OIG harshly rebuked Rosapepe, in Bucharest since February 1998, for failing to keep Washington informed of his activities and the situation in Romania. Washington officials called the embassy reporting "slanted" and infected with "clientitis." "We really have no idea what is going on over there," the report quoted one official as saying. Overall, the report found "the embassy suffers from a confusion of ends and means, from too much direction and too little leadership." Rosapepe allies dismiss much of this as inevitable backlash when a go-getter hits an entrenched organization. "It doesn't surprise me when he ruffles feathers in a bureaucracy," said Lanny J. Davis, former Clinton special counsel and close Rosapepe pal from Maryland political days. Most all the criticism in the report is about "bureaucratic process," Davis said, while "all the praise is for performance," such as the Kosovo diplomacy. "He's definitely going to do better and more timely reporting" to Washington, said Davis, who discussed the report with Rosapepe.

A scorching report card for our Romanian envoy; Rosapepe supporters dismiss the criticism of former Md. delegate; [FINAL Edition] Jay Hancock. The Sun. Baltimore, Md.: Dec 22, 1999. pg. 1.A WASHINGTON -- Less than two years after being appointed ambassador to Romania, former Maryland Del. James C. Rosapepe is the focus of an internal, highly negative State Department report on the Bucharest embassy . Among the report's conclusions: Under Rosapepe's tenure embassy morale has plunged; the State Department has received "inadequate" information on Romanian affairs ; Romanian nationals are sometimes used as "private advisers" to the exclusion of U.S. staffers; and communications with Washington are often "tilted towards the Romanian perspective." Rosapepe, 48, did a good job of securing Romania's support for NATO's war against Yugoslavia and has done well in promoting U.S.- Romanian trade and putting the American viewpoint across to Romanian news organizations, said the report, issued by the department's Office of Inspector General. But in seven leadership and management areas, Rosapepe's scores "were the lowest recorded for any of the 136 ambassadors, charges d'affaires and assistant or deputy assistant secretaries rated by their staffs since 1991," said the report. The report gave Rosapepe credit for several policy accomplishments, particularly helping to persuade key Romanian legislators to permit NATO planes to traverse Romanian air space during the Kosovo war. He prefers "results to reports," the report said. Indeed, the ambassador's supporters say, preferring results over paperwork is the sum of the case against him, and it doesn't amount to much. While Rosapepe may have alienated staffers and failed to pay the home office enough attention, they said, he delivered on basic State Department goals. "He pushed his staff hard, including me, but that's what managers do," said Charles Lewis, a Justice Department organized- crime specialist who is stationed in Bucharest. "During my time here, the single biggest issue was the war in Serbia. It was key that Romania support the NATO effort. The record will bear out that they did, and that was because of our efforts." Rosapepe, reached in Bucharest, declined to speak extensively on the record. But he said: "I'm proud of the job we've done, and I think we accomplished a lot," including improving consular services and promoting U.S investment in Romania, including large deals by G.E. Capital and GTE Corp. Rosapepe assumed the ambassadorship in early 1998. He is a longtime supporter of President Clinton who has lobbied on Capitol Hill in Washington and has had interests in several small businesses in addition to his legislative work in Annapolis.

The Clinton administration has appointed a higher-than- average number of politically connected ambassadors, which hurts morale among the career professionals working their way toward a top State Department job, said Marshall Adair, president of the American Foreign Service Association, which represents career State Department staff. "You have to make sure that the people that you send to represent our country as ambassadors are qualified to do so," said Adair, commenting on political appointees generally rather than specifically on Rosapepe. The internal State Department report on the Romanian embassy, issued in September and disclosed by the Boston Globe this week, was prepared by the department's inspector general's office, which routinely audits the performance of embassies and other operations. The U.S. mission in Romania has more than 300 employees; about 45 are Americans. The report is especially harsh on the Bucharest embassy's failure to send frequent and relevant reports on Romanian affairs and political trends to Washington. U.S. government analysts who rely on embassy reports gave comments on Bucharest's cables "ranging from dismissive to derisive," the inspector general's report said. "At a time when Romania is at a crucial stage in its transformation from a communist economy to a free-market society," the report said, "those who need to keep up on Romanian events have developed their own sources, and the embassy is not the first among them." The report criticized Rosapepe for meeting repeatedly with top Romanian officials without filing reports of the meetings with Washington. It also painted a gloomy picture of embassy morale, saying "there is little in the way of inspiring, motivating leadership" under Rosapepe. The inspector general's auditors questioned 44 embassy staffers on Rosapepe's skills in management, diplomacy and other areas. He delivered e-mails and other communications to embassy staffers that "verge on intimidation," the internal report said. The ambassador increased the responsibilities of some Romanian citizens who work for the embassy, causing confusion about lines of authority and further damaging morale, it said. Rosapepe's supporters portrayed the report as a witch hunt by a hidebound State Department bureaucracy that is threatened by a high- energy, innovative ambassador. "There's some people out there trying to get him," said John Hurson, a Montgomery County Democrat and majority leader of Maryland's House of Delegates who has visited Rosapepe in Bucharest. "He is doing everything he can to make that country prosper and to bring it closer to the United States. I think that's what an ambassador's supposed to do."

In drastically reorganizing the embassy, in aggressively pushing to improve consular services and in spending time scouting business deals for Romania instead of filing cables, Rosapepe became something of a one-man culture clash in a tradition-bound agency, his friends said. "Whatever problems there might be, I have not seen them," said Richard Schifter, special adviser to the secretary of state for Southeastern Europe and once president, in the late 1970s, of the Maryland Board of Education. "He's a guy who rattles the cage. Can-do," said Hurson. "From what I saw over there, he was doing a fantastic job." U.S. diplomacy Excerpts from report on the U.S. Embassy in Romania and Ambassador James Rosapepe: "The ambassador scored an average of 3.28 out of a possible 10 in management/leadership categories" in a survey of embassy personnel. Embassy reporting to Washington "is quantitatively and qualitatively inadequate to serve the Washington foreign affairs community. It is not timely. It is weak on analysis and often tilted towards the Romanian perspective." "Public diplomacy has benefited greatly from the ambassador's interest, in particular from his efforts to promote the rationale for NATO's military action in Yugoslavia." Rosapepe's "ability to deal with the media is a distinct plus for the U.S. government." "Consular outreach and an internal web site are notable mission successes." Rosapepe's e-mails, phone calls and other communications with staffers involved in visa requests "verge on intimidation." "There is a strong consensus that the ambassador's intolerance of disagreement can bring retribution."

December 20, 1999, Monday ,THIRD EDITION SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A1 LENGTH: 1299 words HEADLINE: 'FRIENDS OF BILL' TAKE HEAT IN NEW ROLES AS ENVOYS BYLINE: By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff BODY: WASHINGTON - They called themselves Friends of Bill, the cadre of people around the country who had met Bill Clinton, liked Bill Clinton, and proudly wore big "FOB" buttons announcing their loyalty during Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. Seven years into Clinton's presidency, the FOBs have gotten their reward, and many now call themselves ambassadors to European and Caribbean posts. Of 170 current ambassadors, 61 are political appointees, the largestpercentage in recent history. Not since the tenure of Ronald Reagan has the percentage of political appointees - 36 percent - been so high. Nor does the Clinton count include political appointees to sunny posts such as Bermuda, where the United States has a representative - in this case, former New Hampshire Democratic fund-raiser Robert Farmer - but no ambassador. While even career foreign service officers admit that certain political appointees serve with distinction, many worry about the damage that can be done when the chief United States representative to a foreign nation is not a practiced diplomat. In a blistering internal State Department report, James C. Rosapepe, the US ambassador to Romania and a Clinton supporter, is accused of failing to inform Washington of key developments in Romania, giving too much weight to the domestic Romanian agenda, and pressuring US agencies and contractors to hire people he selects. One of the most important functions of a US embassy is to keep the State Department posted on a country's internal politics and trends. But Rosapepe's reporting is so inadequate and "slanted" that "we really have no idea what is going on there," said an official quoted in the report, prepared by the department's inspector general and obtained by the Globe last week. State Department officials have been forced to rely on their personal Romanian contacts to find out what is really happening in the politically and economically volatile nation. "Those who need to keep up on Romanian events have developed their own sources, and the embassy is not first among them," said the inspector general's report. Inside Romania, Rosapepe, a former Democratic state legislator from Maryland, has displayed a lack of diplomatic discretion, the report indicates. The ambassador includes Romanian nationals in many embassy meetings, has discussed US budget figures with potential contractors, and sometimes brings only a Romanian embassy employee and not a US Foreign Service officer to high-level meetings with the Romanian government, according to the report.

Rosapepe, reached in Bucharest, said it would be improper for him to discuss the report. But allies of Rosapepe's in the diplomatic corps defended Rosapepe's general performance. "He has done a great job . . . in a difficult situation," said Richard Schifter, special assistant to the secretary of state for Southeast Europe. "I find him to be energetic, innovative, flexible and highly respected by the folks he deals with in Romania," Richard Sklar, US special representative for the Southeast European Initiative, said by telephone from Rome. But, Sklar added, "I know nothing about the report and it is none of my business." Rosapepe is hardly the first US ambassador to be criticized. But the fact that he is a political appointee makes his case noteworthy, as critics complain that Clinton has been overly generous in handing out plum ambassadorships to friends and supporters. "Just as this administration has used the Lincoln Bedroom as a little prize for funders, it has given out ambassadorships in the same manner," said Larry Birns, head of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a liberal foreign policy group. State Department officials defended the practice of making political appointments. "I really believe that for key jobs in dealing with important governments, you want someone who has had experience outside government," Schifter said.