Treasury Secretary John Snow has signaled to the White House he is ready to
resign once President Bush has picked a successor, administration officials and
people close to Snow said Thursday.
Treasury Secretary
John Snow attends a rally at the Capitol in Washington May 10, 2006. Snow
is expected to resign by mid-June, according to CNBC.
[Reuters] |
They said Snow has made clear he eventually intends to return to the private
sector. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Snow is not ready to
discuss his plans publicly.
It's unclear when Snow will offer his resignation, these people said.
However, Snow, still plans on attending a meeting of finance ministers from
the world's richest countries June 9-10 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Treasury Department spokesman Tony Fratto declined to comment on Snow's
future. "I don't speculate on personnel matters," he said.
Snow, 66, took over Treasury in February 2003.
He replaced Paul O'Neill, whose blunt talking style came to irk the White
House as well as some Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Congress. Unlike
O'Neill, Snow hasn't veered from the Bush economic line. Still, the White House
is said to want a more effective salesman for the president's economic policies.
People inside the administration said a replacement for Snow has not been
chosen.
Possible contenders who have been mentioned include Stephen Friedman, who had
served as director for Bush's National Economic Council.
The speculation about Friedman, who was formerly chief executive at Goldman
Sachs, is being driven in part by the fact that Friedman has close ties to
Joshua Bolten, another former Goldman Sachs executive who recently replaced
Andrew Card as Bush's chief of staff. It was Bolten who helped recruit Friedman
to serve as the head of Bush's National Economic Council during the president's
first term.
Bolten has been leading a shake-up in administration personnel since he was
tapped as Bush's new chief of staff.
Another possibility for the Treasury job is Don Evans, Bush's former commerce
secretary and a close personal friend of the president.
Yet another person being mentioned is David Mulford, who was appointed by
Bush to be the U.S. ambassador to India. He served as undersecretary for
international affairs at the Treasury Department during the administration of
Bush's father.
Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has made little secret that he
wanted the top Treasury job, but was not expected to get it. If passed over for
the promotion, Zoellick would probably leave his current job for a job on Wall
Street.
There had been earlier speculation about a number of Wall Street executives
possibly taking Snow's job. However, many of those individuals indicated that
they were not interested in taking the Treasury slot.