FLORIDA TODAY October 23, 2002
NASA's O'Keefe Stumps for GOP Candidates
By John Kelly and Kelly Young
Sean O'Keefe is taking time off from his day job, as administrator of NASA, to campaign for Republican political candidates in two states with high-profile NASA centers.
O'Keefe took time off Monday and went to Huntsville, Ala., to endorse the Republicans' candidate for governor at a space museum near Marshall Space Flight Center. Monday, he will be at the Cocoa Beach Hilton with Tom Feeney, the GOP nominee in the 24th Congressional District that includes Kennedy Space Center.
NASA is not paying for the trips and O'Keefe is not doing official business, agency spokesman Glenn Mahone said. He is not flying on NASA planes or taking government aides along. O'Keefe and the candidates are paying any costs, Mahone and the GOP campaigns' officials said.
High-ranking presidential appointees often hit the campaign trail for party candidates. A search of news archives and interviews with longtime NASA watchers yielded no examples of former administrator Daniel Goldin politicking so openly or endorsing specific candidates. If Goldin ever did make such an appearance, "I'm reasonably sure he would have been the first," said Howard McCurdy, an American University public affairs professor.
McCurdy, who has written books about NASA, said the practice is becoming more common. Goldin could not be reached for comment.
"It's certainly expanding in the federal government as a whole," McCurdy said. "It's not unusual to see the head of the parks services doing the same thing."
There are no rules against it as long as government resources are not used and O'Keefe carefully distinguishes his appearances as personal rather than official.
"As long as he's not trying to say four out of five astronauts agree, and I assume he's not, then he's OK," said John Pike, a defense and space policy analyst with Virginia-based globalsecurity.org. "Now if I was a partisan Democrat with an interest in these races, I wouldn't have to work very hard to come up with a cheap shot."
Mahone said everyone knows O'Keefe is a Republican, and he has rights as an individual to support candidates like anyone else.
"He did not endorse them as the NASA administrator, but as Sean O'Keefe, a Republican and a member of the administration," Mahone said. "He is Sean Q. Citizen."
Apparently, that's not how U.S. Rep. Bob Riley saw it. His campaign material clearly identified "NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe" among the people who've endorsed him.
"Bob Riley is an enlightened leader who understands the critical nature of research investment, and Alabama's economy will prosper under Bob Riley's leadership," O'Keefe said at the event, according to a campaign news release. "Bob Riley is the right man with the right plan for Alabama."
The release quoted Riley: "Having NASA's administrator fly down from Washington to endorse my campaign for governor illustrates the viability of my plan to build a new high-tech research-based economy in Alabama. Administrator O'Keefe's strong endorsement highlights his confidence that Alabama can become a vital part of the new economy if given the right leadership."
Riley campaign spokesman Dave Acbell said O'Keefe is interested in Riley's plan to develop Alabama's economy like North Carolina's Research Triangle.
The Huntsville Times quoted O'Keefe in Tuesday's edition saying his two appearances were not about partisanship but leadership ability. The paper reported that when asked if he would endorse Democrats with similar leadership abilities, O'Keefe said, "These are the only two opportunities I had to be involved with."
Feeney's campaign is stressing that O'Keefe is appearing in an "unofficial capacity." But the campaign is billing the event as a "Space Town Hall Meeting" at which space industry officials selected by the campaign will get to ask the men about NASA and other space issues.
In debates and other space-related appearances in the district, which includes Kennedy Space Center, Feeney has said his close relationship with O'Keefe and President Bush will help the area.
His press secretary, Kim Stone, made the same case Tuesday. Harry Jacobs, the Democrat candidate running against Feeney, is not invited. Questions asked of Feeney and O'Keefe will be screened by the campaign, she said.
Jacobs' spokeswoman Azalea Candelaria said such events are not unusual and President Bush's aides and appointees have been helping Feeney from the start. She said she hoped O'Keefe and NASA were equally willing to provide the Democrat candidate with access to tours and to face-to-face discussions with the administrator.
"Harry Jacobs has lots more support than the Republicans expected so Tom Feeney rang the alarm and a series of dignitaries are coming down to campaign for him," she said. "When the president of the United States is a Republican and you're not, you can't get that campaign help."
Neither Mahone nor Feeney's spokeswoman said they knew whether O'Keefe will endorse Feeney.
O'Keefe has long served Republican administrations, including that of President Bush's father. The younger Bush moved O'Keefe over from the Office of Management and Budget to head NASA on orders to clean up the agency's money woes.
Pike said previous NASA administrators have been "space cadets" who were at NASA because it was their dream job. O'Keefe is more of a career political appointee, so it's not surprising he is politically active, Pike said.
Copyright © 2002 FLORIDA TODAY
