By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 21,
updated --
Last Friday we
reported that
the US
Mission to the
UN's
ambassador for
reform Joe
Torsella will
leave by the
end of the
year.
Today the
Obama administration
nominated to
replace
Torsella the
lawyer Leslie
Berger
Kiernan. The
administration's
summary is
that she has
been with the
Office of the
White House
Counsel since
2011 -- and
from 1988 to
2011 with the
firm Zuckerman
Spaeder.
There, her
highest
profile client
at least from
public
records was
Congressman
Charles Rangel.
This seems
noteworthy,
given the
nomination for
the US Mission
position
trying to root
out UN
corruption.
But a
lawyer is not
his or her
client;
Inner City
Press has
sought comment
from the US
Mission.
Update
6:10 pm:
The Mission
responds that
it does not
answer nominee
questions; the
questions have
been sent to
the White
House.
In the interim
we note that Leslie
Berger Kiernan
authored a
legal treatise
chapter on
"Political
Patronage and
the Revolving
Door," processes
too prevalent
in the UN.
Background:
On
November 15
the US
Mission's
Ambassador
Samantha Power
announced that
Torsella will
be leaving by
the end of
2013.
Inner
City Press
immediately
tweeted it,
along with the
suggestion of
21 audit
salute,
since Torsella
focused on the
issue of
releasing UN
audits,
pushing
forward from
where things
were under his
predecessor at
the US
Mission, Mark
Wallace.
(Wallace
went, notably,
to United
Against a
Nuclear Iran
which appears
dis-united on
the issue of
new sanctions,
with president
saying no but
spokesperson
saying members
say yes.)
Torsella
pushed
for Fifth
(Budget)
Committee
proceedings to
be on UN
Television.
The Group of
77 responded
that other
committees
like the
Second on
development
and Fourth
which included
decolonization
and work on
the rights of
Palestinians
should also be
filmed.
Both have
happened --
improvements
in technology
are also
involved --
and it's all
to the good.
Two
weeks ago the
G77 meeting at
which Bolivia
became as
Inner City
Press first
reported the
successor to
Fiji was not
initially
televised;
when Inner
City Press and
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
complained,
the UN
official in
charge said it
was belatedly
on, check
before asking.
But it was UN
staff which
also
complained,
and this
automatic
defending of
the UN is one
of the things
wrong, in the
bigger picture
for example on
the UN
bringing
cholera to
Haiti. Where
does Torsella
stand on that,
before he
leaves?
Where does or
would Leslie
Berger Kiernan
stand on it?
And a newly arising
issues, which
Inner City
Press reported
on yesterday:
should the US
State
Department
support a UN
bid for
immunity for
allegedly
bringing
cholera to
Haiti?
We'll have
more on that.
For now, this
on less
reported parts
of Torsella's
legacy:
Torsella
to
his credit
wasn't just
about the
money. The
issue of lack
of
accountability
in Sri Lanka
got delegated
to him, in
part because
military
figure
Shavendra
Silva was
cynically put
on Ban's
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
(Click here
for longer
form reporting
on Sri Lanka
and last
weekend's
Commonwealth
Heads of
Government
Meeting.)
In
classic UN
form, Ban
stayed away
telling Inner
City Press it
was a decision
of the member
states.
Without saying
more, Inner
City Press can
report
Torsella
worked on
this. One
reason more
can't be said
is that the US
Mission so
often puts
things off the
record,
sometimes
after the
fact.
Even the
farewell for
Ambassador
Susan Rice was
said to be off
the record.
Inner City
Press
complied, but
scribes more
obsequious to
the US
uploaded
selfies of
themselves
with Rice, and
left them up,
while attacking
investigative
journalism
and free press
at the UN.
This
too is an
issue in the
purview of
Torsella and
whoever his
successor will
be. The US
should do more
on this --
with spying
undermining
privacy,
claims of
freedom of the
press are one
of the
definitely US
values. Let
that be pushed
at the lawless
UN, not
only in 2014
but by
Torsella
before he
leaves.
Torsella
said the US is
opposed to
"clean
slates,"
without
competition,
in UN system
elections. But
in the recent
elections for
the Human
Rights
Council, there
was no
competition to
France and the
UK in the
Western Europe
and Other
Group, of
which the US
is a member.
There's more
work to be
done at and on
the UN -- much
more.
Here's one, in
the spirit of
reform and
transparency:
cost cutting
proposals in
the UN system,
largely
supported by
the US
Mission, would
involve
Americans
losing their
jobs to
off-shoring.
Is this the US
being
selfless? Or
just hoping no
one puts the
contradiction
together?
Click here
for Inner City
Press' exclusive
coverage of
UNDP's job off-shoring
plans,
including
Accenture
report.
American Tony
Lake at UNICEF
is also doing
it - but he
can say he is
an
international
civil servant.
The US State
Department and
Mission -
isn't their
job to advance
American (and
Americans')
interests at
and in the UN?
Watch this
site.
, 
