The holds on GSA's Martha Johnson

Many blogs have talked up the reporting from the Kansas City Star, which on Friday said Sen. Kit Bond had a hold on Martha Johnson, President Barack Obama's pick to lead the General Services Administration.

The newspaper reported that Bond, a Republican from Missouri, had the hold on Johnson to apply pressure on the government to approve a proposed federal office building in downtown Kansas City. The paper also says Bond has pushed the effort to build the estimated $175 million project since it was first proposed in 2006.

Officials thought the proposal to consolidate more than 1,200 area federal workers in either a new or existing building downtown was cleared last fall by feds when GSA and the Office of Management and Budget finally forwarded the plan to Congress, the Star reports. But in June, the Senate Environmental and Public Works Commission asked Anthony Costa, GSA acting commissioner for public buildings, for more financial analysis.

"Bond suspected the move had been requested by GSA bureaucrats as part of an effort to scuttle the Kansas City plan," the paper reported.

Johnson is feeling the effects of that suspicion. She had sailed through the confirmation hearing, and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved her in June. She’s gone no further though.

According to Federal News Radio, Senate staffers however say Bond sat down with Johnson to talk about the issue, but he's awaiting more information on the project before lifting his hold.

There seems to be some interesting history about other holds on Johnson, according to sources. When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, learned that the government would steer conferences clear of Las Vegas, he wanted to add a little pressure to GSA to get its expo and the more than 9,000 attendees to come to town soon—maybe as early as 2010, according to one source.

However, GSA is under contract to hold the 2010 Expo in Orlando, and the Florida senators wouldn’t stand for GSA dumping the Sunshine State for La Vegas, the source said. It’s not that easy to relocate a mega-conference without upsetting someone.

Things have since been smoothed out: The GSA Expo next year will be in Florida and only Bond has the hold now, sources say.

Posted by Matthew Weigelt on Aug 26, 2009 at 12:22 PM