Agency nominee taking Senate heat

WASHINGTON -- Senate critics of the Bush administration's decision to let a Dubai-owned company operate six US ports say they want to hold a new hearing on the nomination of a former top official of the company to run the US Maritime Administration.

One of the critics, Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said in an interview that he is concerned that the former Dubai Ports World official, David Sanborn, has a conflict of interest in becoming the head of the US Maritime Administration, which describes its vision as fostering ''a maritime system that serves America with American ships and American labor."

Nelson said he wants Sanborn to answer questions about whether he played a role in arranging the deal before being nominated to serve in the Bush administration.

''That sounds awfully close to a conflict of interest to me," Nelson said.

A Bush administration spokesman said, however, that Sanborn played no role in the company's effort to take over the management of ports in New York, Newark, New Orleans, Baltimore, Miami, and Philadelphia.

Nelson said that when Sanborn appeared before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Feb. 7, there was no mention that Dubai Ports World was buying a British company that ran operations at the six ports. As a result, Nelson said, he would seek to hold up the confirmation vote until Sanborn reappears before the committee to address questions about whether he played a role in facilitating the contract.

Brian Trumail, a spokesman for the US Maritime Administration, said in a telephone interview that Sanborn played no role in the negotiations to acquire the British company.

''He is not and has not been involved in the negotiations," Trumail said, adding that Sanborn oversaw Dubai Ports World operations in Latin America and Europe. Sanborn declined comment. He said Sanborn would meet with any member of Congress and, if confirmed, would recuse himself from decisions involving his former employer for one year.

Nelson said he is troubled that if Sanborn is confirmed as head of the US Maritime Administration, Sanborn would be overseeing his former employer's work at US ports. But the Maritime Administration issued a statement last night saying it ''does not regulate US ports, their operations, or their security." Instead, the administration said, it collects port traffic data and advises on issues such as dredging, congestion, and environmental guidelines.

Still, Sanborn has become a lightning rod for criticism for some senators who believe they should have been informed earlier about the Dubai Ports World deal. The contract has become a source of controversy in the past several weeks, with members of both political parties questioning why the US government would allow a company owned by an Arab government to operate six US ports. Bush administration officials stress that Dubai is a partner with the United States in the war on terror and that it would be unfair to scuttle the deal simply because Dubai is the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Senator John F. Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who sits with Nelson on the Commerce Committee, also has raised questions about whether Sanborn has a conflict of interest, and suggested that the nomination be held up.

Sanborn ''worked for Dubai Ports World when this deal was rushed through under cover of darkness without sufficient security review," Kerry said. ''In the post9/11 world, we need to know why."

Kerry also questioned whether the Bush administration panel that approved the deal had an inherent conflict of interest. The panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, is chaired by Treasury Secretary John Snow. Snow is the former chairman of the Florida-based transportation company CSX, which sold its international port operations to Dubai Ports World in 2004. As a result, Snow's role also has come under scrutiny.

Kerry, in a letter to Snow, wrote that, ''As you know, the CSX rail corporation, where you previously served as chief executive officer, sold its port operations to DP in 2004." Congress needs to learn ''whether administration officials could have unduly influenced CFIUS's approval process," Kerry wrote.

Tony Fratto, a Snow spokesman, said the Treasury secretary was not involved in the CFIUS approval process on Dubai Ports World, which he said was handled by underlings. ''He learned about it after the fact," Fratto said.

The Bush administration learned in October 2005 that Dubai Ports World was seeking to buy the British firm, Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation, and thus run the US ports. Dubai Ports World publicly announced its offer on Nov. 29, 2005, and said in a press release that the matter needed approval from the Bush administration. Sanborn appeared before the CFIUS panel on Dec. 6, 2005, ''to help answer operational questions about the terminals involved because of his familiarity with them," the Maritime Administration said in a statement.

On Jan. 17, 2006, the Bush administration said it had no problem with the deal. On the same day, the Bush administration announced that it was nominating Sanborn to head the US Maritime Administration. Two weeks after that, Sanborn appeared at his nomination hearing without mentioning the Dubai deal, a committee spokesman said.