Word: omb
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...administration should have appointed Lance to as important a post as director of OMB. What he lacked in budget experience he compensated for with his close ties to President Carter. Though Carter may value his advice, and loyalty is always an admirable quality, the president's delay in taking action on Lance seems to be hypocritical coming from the man who asked, "Why not the best?" At best, the Lance affair may serve as a lesson for future presidents who value friendship over ability and the national interest...
...defend himself fully against charges of misusing his top positions at two Georgia banks to enhance his free-spending lifestyle and embark on a political career. Lance should get that opportunity this week in a session with the Senate's Governmental Affairs Committee, which approved his elevation to OMB director last January, ringingly re-endorsed him only seven weeks ago and now seems to feel it was misled. But no matter how forcefully and shrewdly Lance defends his banking past, his usefulness as Carter's penny-pinching Budget Director and as a bridge to the nation's wary business community...
...that afternoon. Byrd told the President that the Lance case would not simply fade away, that the OMB director's effectiveness was being "seriously eroded," and that Carter's own reputation and effectiveness were in serious jeopardy. The implication of Byrd's message was that if the President was still loath to fire Lance, he should at least distance himself from his wounded friend...
...worlds apart in both kind and importance, that familiar Nixonian question is at least remotely relevant: What did he know and when did he know it? Indeed, as various investigations continued last week, some officials who had been involved in checking Lance's record prior to his confirmation as OMB chief defensively raised charges of a cover-up by members of the Carter transition team and Administration...
This murky area of what is proper and improper is at the heart of the banking industry's worries about the Lance affair. As Comptroller of the Currency John Heimann declared in his report last month, the OMB director's finances raised "unresolved questions as to what constitutes acceptable banking practice." Bankers fear that congressional reformers will seize on the nationwide hue and cry over Lance to resolve those questions by further tightening of federal banking laws...