At
UN,
Ban's Bid to
Upgrade
Corporate Orr
to USG Denied
by ACABQ
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 13 -- The
"five year
mobility" rule
of
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon has
been kind to
his closest
advisers,
who have moved
for example
from Deputy
Chief of Staff
to Change
Management.
Robert
Orr,
sources say,
resisted
leaving his
office on
"Global
Goods,"
but was
shifted to
something of a
made-up
position
called public
private
partnerships.
The idea is he
will be funded
by "extra
budgetary
resources."
Some wonder if
he'll wear
corporate
logos
like a NASCAR
driver. He has
already
provided a
vituperative
defense
of the chair
of Bank of
America, the
number one
funder of
mountain
top removal
coal mining,
co-chairing
Ban's
Sustainable
Energy for
All.
But
whatever the
ethics of
funding a UN
post from
outside, Orr
wanted and
wants to be
upgraded from
Assistant
Secretary
General to
Under
Secretary
General. This
should have
been rejected
inside Ban's
office. But it
wasn't.
Instead,
the
request to
upgrade was
made to the
Advisory
Committee on
Administrative
and Budgetary
Questions,
ACABQ. Inner
City Press
wrote
about this on
May 21,
finding some
in ACABQ
shocked that
the request
was even being
made.
It
is understood
that ACABQ
interviewed
Amir Dossal,
who previously
did the
partnerships
job, at the D2
level. After
that and other
interviews,
today ACABQ
ruled that
Orr's post
should NOT be
upgraded to
USG.
Again,
Ban should
never have
even asked for
it. And the UN
should be more
transparent:
when Inner
City Press
asked if the
UN Global
Compact is or
would be
under Orr, the
question was
not answered.
Now,
the
speculation
is, Orr will really
want the new
Counter-Terrorism
Coordinator
post, over
Mike Smith who
is essentially
already doing
it. "It's all
about the USG
status," a
source said,
with a
shake of the
head. This is
Ban's UN.
Watch this
site.
, 
