Though he only appeared in seven games in 1985, the Chicago White Sox asked Mark Gilbert to pose for a photo at Comiskey Park. AP file photo
The New American Ambassador to New Zealand is a Former Baseball Player
Banking executive Mark Gilbert has raised millions for Obama -- and played seven games in 1985 for the Chicago White Sox.
Early in 2014, The Daily Show ran a segment examining the credentials of ambassadors-to-be during their confirmations. Examples included since-confirmed Noah B. Mamet and Robert C. Barber -- neither of whom had traveled to their posts in Argentina and Iceland, respectively -- and former Sen. Max Baucus, who declared that he is "no real expert on China" before being sent to one of the United States' largest trade partners.
Jon Stewart's show featured another segment earlier this month on the highly visible political appointees at the State Department, showing Mamet and his admission that he does not -- unlike over 35 million Americans -- speak fluent Spanish. This segment also featured Colleen Bell, the newly-confirmed Ambassador to Hungary, who is a television producer responsible for The Bold and the Beautiful .
The crux of criticism against the ambassadorships is that these people were nominated solely because they are Democratic bundlers for Obama's campaigns. Barber, Mamet and Bell all raised more than 500,000 for Obama's 2012 presidential campaign, with Barber raising over $1.5 million.
Expect more criticism for the man now on his way to be the ambassador to New Zealand. Mark Gilbert is a banking executive, a member of Obama for America's finance team and, most oddly, a former outfielder for the Chicago White Sox. The Associated Press reports that the Lehman Brothers executive will be the first ex-MLB player to be an ambassador. The Senate unanimously confirmed Gilbert in a voice vote last week.
The State Department didn't mention his time spent at the firm that was involved in the 2008 banking crisis in a statement to AP, choosing instead to focus on the enduring popularity of the sport in which Gilbert played all of seven games for a midlevel American league team in 1985 .
"Baseball is America's pastime, so what better way to represent the United States overseas than with someone who, before he was a successful businessman, began his career as a major league baseball player?" State spokeswoman Marie Harf told AP.
After his seven games in 1985 with the big club, Gilbert was sent back to the minor leagues. He hurt his knee the next year and was out of baseball soon thereafter. He began a career in finance at Drexel Burnham Lambert, then moved to Goldman Sachs and eventually ended up at Lehman Brothers in 1996. According to The New York Times , he has raised $3,362,278 for campaigns since 2007 and spent 2009-2013 as the Democratic National Committee’s deputy national finance chair.
History is littered with political financial allies in such roles. Obama is not the first to nominate friends (or even those connected with baseball) to cushy ambassador jobs. George W. Bush sent consultant, friend and former co-investor in MLB's Texas Rangers Tom Schieffer to two different ambassadorships to friendly nations: Schieffer served from 2001-2005 in Australia and 2005-2009 in Japan. Schieffer's successor in Australia was a classmate of Bush's at Yale. Obama's current ambassador to Australia is former OPM director and career public servant John Berry .
"While this clearly wasn't the reason for his nomination, it doesn't hurt that ambassador-designate Gilbert played for the president's favorite team , the Chicago White Sox," Harf said.
No word on whether Gilbert has actually visited New Zealand.