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Hmm...who cares if he's qualified for the post, just so long as he's able to raise a lot of money for the Bush campaign.WASHINGTON ? A top contender to become the next Commerce secretary is a Cincinnati-area businessman who raised $260 million for President Bush?s re-election campaign and is credited with helping him win Ohio?s electoral votes that clinched the election.
Mercer Reynolds III, an occasional overnight guest at the White House and Camp David whom the president nicknamed ?Merce,? served as the president?s campaign finance chairman this year, filling a post that outgoing Commerce Secretary Don Evans held in 2000.
Evans, a close friend of Bush?s for more than three decades, announced his resignation this week, saying it was time for him to return to Texas. Reynolds, meanwhile, has been widely mentioned as a possible replacement for Evans at the helm of the nation?s agency responsible for employment, international trade, civil rights, patents and the census.
?It?s something that would fit very well with his background and experience,? said Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party and a friend of Reynolds.
Bennett said besides owning shares in numerous companies, being an adept fund-raiser for Republicans and having served as ambassador to Switzerland, a key strength is that Reynolds works hard: If no one?s around to do what needs to be done, he does it himself.
?The weekend before the election, when everyone was nervous, Mercer Reynolds showed up in my office to do volunteer phone calls.? Bennett said. ?He really surprised me. I said, ?Mercer, what are you doing here?? He said, ?I came to help out.? ?
Reynolds and his wife, Gabrielle, spent all day calling Bush supporters, Bennett said.
For Bush?s 2004 re-election campaign, Reynolds and his wife hosted first lady Laura Bush for a fund-raiser at their home in Indian Hills, an affluent suburb of Cincinnati. The couple also hosted the president for an event in Greensboro, Ga., where they own a lakeside development in known as Reynolds Plantation and a nearby Ritz Carlton hotel.
Friends of Reynolds in Georgia say he?s a ?no nonsense? guy who has a good character.
?He?s well liked and respected here,? said Carey Williams, editor of Greensboro Herald-Journal and a longtime Reynolds friend. ?He?s a quiet man. He doesn?t make any noise. He wields a big stick and he?s just a good person.? Reynolds, originally from Chattanooga, Tenn., came to Cincinnati to oversee a Coca-Cola bottling franchise. He was running an oil company with business partner Bill DeWitt in 1980 when a friend from Midland, Texas, introduced him to Bush, who also owned an oil company. They eventually merged their companies, then invested together in the Texas Rangers baseball team.
When Bush ran for president in 2000, the two raised $3 million for the campaign, cast votes as electors for Ohio, and co-chaired the president?s inauguration committee.
Bush rewarded Reynolds with the Switzerland ambassadorship, a post Reynolds stepped down from to work on the re-election campaign. Reynolds? wife, meanwhile, was recently nominated by Bush to serve on the board of trustees at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Switzerland is one of the world?s biggest financial centers. Reynolds? experience dealing with international trade issues there would be an asset to his nomination, Bennett said.
John Green, director of the University of Akron?s Ray C. Bliss Institute for Applied Politics, said a Reynolds nomination also would benefit from the good reputation he has with the business community and the fact that he?s devoted to Bush.
?The most important thing when assembling an administration is loyalty,? Green said. ?But when people are being rewarded for political support, they also have to have the necessary skills to carry out the job and carry out the president?s policies. It would appear that Mr. Reynolds is someone who has those skills.?
White House spokesman Jim Morrell declined to speculate about whether the president would select Reynolds for the post. He said an announcement would be made soon.
?The president has tremendous respect for Mercer Reynolds and appreciates the job he did on the campaign,? Morrell said.
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