WASHINGTON: As per convention, Ken Juster packed up as US ambassador to India after a nearly four-year stint the day there was a change of administration in Washington DC on January 20, 2021. It took President Joe
Biden almost six months to nominate a new envoy -- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Some ten months after the nomination, Garcetti is yet to move to New Delhi -- and from the looks of it, he might not get there for some more time.
A 23-page report by a Republican Senator released this week has concluded that Garcetti “likely knew or should have known” that one of his former top adviser was allegedly sexually harassing city employees, putting another spoke in the wheels that should have taken him to India by now.
The report is seen by many Democrats as part of a partisan fight that Republicans are waging to stall Biden's agenda and programs, including his ambassadorial appointments.
"By all accounts, Mr. Jacobs’ behavior was widely known and talked about. It was pervasive, widespread, and notorious — to the point that Mr. Jacobs sexually harassed someone in front of the Mayor for a picture that would be memorialized for all time," the report by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says, referring to charges against Garcetti's former aide and adding, "We conclude that Mayor Garcetti likely knew or should have known that Rick Jacobs was sexually harassing multiple individuals and making racist comments towards others."
Garcetti has gone through confirmation hearings before the Democrat-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee and only remains to be voted through by the full Senate, which in normal circumstances would have been a formality. But such is the partisan rancor in a chamber tied now at 50-50 that no one is betting on his taking the flight to New Delhi, even though the charges involve his former aide.
Garcetti himself described the Grassley report as as "partisan" and "one-sided" to a local Los Angeles radio station, insisting he "absolutely would have taken action" if the behavior attributed to his aide had occurred, but even some Democratic lawmakers appear to have reservations about the vote to confirm him. However, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Menendez is defending his nomination and pressing for a vote, calling Grassley's report "ridiculous."
Grassley has indicated that now that he has submitted his report, he will allow a Senate vote to proceed and vote "no" on Garcetti, but in a 50-50 chamber, the LA mayor will need every Democratic vote and then some.
Garcetti's political rivals in California meanwhile are gloating about the Democratic trainwreck engineered by Republicans in a demographically unrepresentative Senate comprised of two lawmakers from each state regardless of its population (California with 40 million people and Wyoming with less than a million people, fewer than LA, both have two Senators). "Dammit, does this mean California has to keep him? Good news for India, though — bye, bye Ambassador to India!" tweeted Harmeet Dhillon, a Republican operative from California.
In New Delhi meanwhile, the US Embassy is being led by a charge d'affaires, the fourth since Ken Juster returned to the US. Democrats fume that it is an inappropriate time for the US not to have a full-fledged ambassador in India, particularly given the global tensions arising from the Russia-Ukraine war and the unfolding economic crisis.