The
position
of
director
of
the
White
House
Office
of
National
AIDS
Policy
has
been
vacant
for
seven
months,
renewing
speculation
about
the
Bush
administration’s
commitment
to
the
office.
Carol
Thompson,
who
was
named
director
of
the
office
in
May
2004
and
assumed
the
unofficial
title
of
U.S.
“AIDS
czar,”
left
her
job
on
Feb.
10
to
take
a
new
position
at
the
State
Department.
Last
month,
White
House
spokesperson
Emily
Laramore
said
the
White
House
was
“in
the
process
of
hiring
someone”
to
replace
Thompson.
But
this
week,
another
White
House
spokesperson
declined
to
comment
on
whether
Thompson’s
replacement
would
take
office
anytime
soon,
saying
the
White
House
never
provides
details
on
personnel
matters.
“We
clearly
look
forward
to
seeing
the
office
filled,
and
with
someone
who
has
knowledge
and
experience
in
HIV
and
AIDS,”
said
Rebecca
Haag,
executive
director
of
AIDS
Action,
a
national
AIDS
advocacy
group.
“We
had
heard
months
ago
that
they
were
about
to
name
someone,”
Haag
said.
“We
don’t
know
of
anything
happening
right
now.”
The
post
remained
unfilled
for
nine
months
before
President
Bush
named
Thompson
to
replace
gay
physician
Joe
O’Neill,
whom
Bush
appointed
to
the
AIDS
czar
job
in
July
2002.
Thompson,
who
was
O’Neill’s
deputy,
served
as
acting
director
of
the
office
during
the
nine
months
before
the
president
chose
her
as
permanent
director.
AIDS
activists
expressed
concern
that
the
delay
in
naming
O’Neill’s
permanent
replacement — and
the
current
delay
in
naming
Thompson’s
replacement — shows
a
lack
of
commitment
to
domestic
AIDS
issues.
Gay
Republican
activist
Jim
Driscoll,
a
former
member
of
the
Presidential
Advisory
Council
on
HIV/AIDS
appointed
by
Bush,
said
White
House
domestic
policy
staff
member
Yuval
Levin
has
been
carrying
out
some
of
the
AIDS
office
functions
since
Thompson
left
in
May.
Levin’s
makeshift
work
at
ONAP
comes
at
a
time
when
Congress
appears
deadlocked
over
a
bill
to
reauthorize
the
Ryan
White
CARE
Act
program,
which
allocates
millions
of
dollars
in
federal
AIDS
funds
to
cities
and
states.
Officials
with
AIDS
advocacy
groups
met
Sept.
11
on
Capitol
Hill
in
a
closed-door
session
with
representatives
of
Congress
and
the
Bush
administration
in
what
sources
called
a
failed
attempt
to
work
out
a
compromise
bill.
A
bipartisan
coalition
of
Senators
and
House
members,
including
Sen.
Edward
Kennedy
(D-Mass.),
jointly
introduced
the
Ryan
White
reauthorization
bill
earlier
this
year.
Several
key
AIDS
groups
have
joined
New
York
Sen.
Hilary
Clinton
(D)
in
opposing
the
bill
on
grounds
that
it
would
decrease
the
amount
of
federal
AIDS
funds
for
large
cities
like
New
York
and
Los
Angeles.
A
failure
by
Congress
to
approve
a
reauthorization
bill
before
it
adjourns
for
the
year
in
November
could
lead
to
confusion
and
“chaos”
over
the
doling
out
of
federal
AIDS
funds
next
year,
AIDS
activists
have
warned.
And
the
vacant
director’s
position
at
the
White
House
AIDS
office
comes
at
a
time
when
the
Bush
administration
must
act
decisively
on
this
issue,
some
activists
have
said.
Bush’s
mixed
history
with
AIDS
czars
When
Bush
took
office
in
2001,
White
House
sources
leaked
information
to
the
press
saying
the
president
was
considering
dismantling
the
AIDS
office.
AIDS
activists
and
Democrats
objected,
alongside
some
Republicans,
arguing
the
office
was
needed
to
coordinate
AIDS
programs
and
policies,
and
its
elimination
would
signal
that
Bush
lacked
a
commitment
to
fight
AIDS.
The
administration
quickly
backed
down,
saying
it
never
seriously
considered
shutting
down
the
AIDS
office.
A
short
time
later,
Bush
named
gay
Republican
activist
Scott
Evertz
as
his
first
director
of
the
Office
of
National
AIDS
Policy.
Bush
named
gay
physician
Joe
O’Neill
as
Evertz’s
replacement.
O’Neill,
a
nationally
recognized
specialist
in
AIDS,
had
worked
in
the
Clinton
administration,
where
he
ran
the
Ryan
White
AIDS
program.
When
Bush
later
appointed
O’Neill
as
deputy
coordinator
of
the
newly
formed
U.S.
global
AIDS
office
at
the
State
Department,
AIDS
activists
were
hopeful
that
Bush
would
name
someone
with
similar
medical
and
policy
related
experience.
