The
State
Department
and
the
president
of
Romania
have
issued
strong
statements
of
support
for
the
gay
U.S.
ambassador
to
Romania,
Michael
Guest,
following
a
yearlong
onslaught
of
articles
in
an
English
language
newspaper
in
Bucharest
accusing
Guest
of
corruption
and
mismanagement.
A
State
Department
spokesperson
this
week
strongly
denied
a
report
in
the
newspaper,
Bucharest
Business
Week,
that
the
White
House
had
“recalled”
Guest
from
his
ambassador’s
post
because
of
alleged
improprieties.
The
spokesperson,
Margo
Squire,
said
Guest
completed
a
three-year
assignment
as
Romanian
ambassador
and
would
be
returning
to
Washington
in
July
to
begin
a
new
assignment
in
the
U.S.
Foreign
Service,
where
he
has
served
with
“distinction”
for
more
than
20
years.
She
said
his
three-year
term
had
been
set
at
the
time
Guest
was
named
to
his
ambassador’s
job
by
President
Bush
in
2001
and
that
the
newspaper
articles
had
played
“absolutely
no
role”
in
the
timing
of
his
departure.
“Mr.
Guest
has
done
an
excellent
job
as
U.S.
ambassador
in
Romania,”
Squire
said.
“He
has
served
our
country
well.”
The
Romanian
Embassy
in
Washington
announced
on
June
24
that
Romanian
President
Ion
Iliescu
awarded
Guest
that
nation’s
“Order
for
Faithful
Service
in
the
Rank
of
Grand
Cross.”
In
a
statement,
the
embassy
said
Iliescu
presented
the
award
to
Guest
at
a
June
23
ceremony
in
Bucharest
in
appreciation
for
“high
professionalism,
dedication
to
his
mission
…
and
for
his
personal
contribution
to
the
strengthening
of
the
Romanian-American
partnership.”
Guest,
a
career
Foreign
Service
officer,
became
the
nation’s
second
openly
gay
ambassador.
President
Clinton
appointed
San
Francisco
business
executive,
philanthropist
and
gay
activist
James
Hormel
as
the
first
openly
gay
ambassador.
Hormel
served
as
ambassador
to
Luxembourg.
Among
the
allegations
made
by
Bucharest
Business
Week
is
that
the
U.S.
embassy
in
Bucharest,
under
Guest’s
leadership,
appointed
a
convicted
pedophile
to
an
embassy-sponsored
board
that
selects
Romanian
students
for
U.S.
Fulbright
scholarships.
The
embassy
said
it
removed
the
appointee,
U.S.
citizen
and
historian
Kurt
Treptow,
from
the
board
after
learning
about
his
conviction
in
a
Romanian
court
for
allegedly
engaging
in
sex
with
juveniles
and
videotaping
the
encounters.
Neither
the
newspaper
nor
the
embassy
disclosed
whether
the
juveniles
were
males
or
females.
The
newspaper
charged
that
the
embassy
failed
to
adequately
vet
Treptow
before
making
the
appointment.
It
also
charged
that
Guest
and
other
embassy
officials
gave
Treptow
favorable
treatment
in
the
selection
process
over
other
candidates
for
the
Fulbright
board,
in
part,
to
provide
cover
for
Treptow
alleged
work
as
a
CIA
agent.
Squire
called
the
newspaper’s
claim
that
Guest
gave
Treptow
favorable
treatment
“preposterous.”
But
State
Department
policy
prevents
comments
on
matters
relating
to
the
CIA
or
U.S.
intelligence
activities,
she
said.
Guest
could
not
be
reached
by
press
time
for
comment.
Bucharest
Business
Week
is
published
by
AmeriCelt
Publishing
SRL,
described
on
its
Web
site
as
the
Bucharest
branch
of
Romanian
Ventures
Inc.,
the
“only
wholly
American-owned
news
media
company
in
Romania.”
The
Web
site
says
the
English-language
weekly
newspaper
specializes
in
business
coverage,
including
news
about
American
and
European
companies
doing
business
in
Romania.
Corina
Mica,
the
paper’s
editorial
director
and
the
author
of
most
of
the
articles
about
Guest,
did
not
respond
to
an
e-mail
by
press
time.
In
addition
to
the
allegations
about
Guest’s
role
in
Treptow
appointment,
newspaper
articles
accused
Guest
of
“poor
leadership”
in
presiding
over
an
embassy
that
the
paper
says
is
plagued
by
“mismanagement.”
Several
of
the
articles
accuse
embassy
officials,
including
Guest,
of
engaging
in
“influence-peddling”
in
the
appointment
of
outsiders
to
embassy
posts.
One
article
accuses
the
embassy
of
assisting
U.S.
citizens
in
obtaining
legal
assistance
in
Romania
to
adopt
children
in
what
it
calls
a
multi-million
dollar
adoption
effort
in
which
U.S.-owned
adoption
agencies
allegedly
charge
$10,000
or
more
to
facilitate
adoptions
for
Americans.
Another
article
accuses
Guest
of
offending
both
Romanian
leaders
and
U.S.
business
executives
seeking
to
arrange
business
deals
in
Romania
by
over
stressing
reports
of
corruption
within
Romania’s
government
and
private
corporations.
Squire
called
all
of
the
allegations
untrue.
None
of
the
articles
currently
posted
on
the
newspaper’s
Web
site
reference
Guest’s
sexual
orientation.
But
Tom
Coleman,
acting
president
of
Gays
&
Lesbians
in
Foreign
Affairs
Agencies,
a
recognized
employee
group
at
the
State
Department,
said
a
source
at
the
U.S.
embassy
in
Romania
told
him
most
embassy
officials
believe
the
newspaper’s
criticism
of
Guest
is
motivated
by
anti-gay
prejudice.
Coleman
said
his
source
at
the
embassy
told
him
that
the
newspaper
began
publishing
articles
attacking
Guest
and
the
embassy
after
the
embassy
chose
not
to
hire
one
of
the
paper’s
top
officials
as
executive
director
for
the
Fulbright
Scholarship
operation
at
the
embassy.
A
source
familiar
with
the
State
Department,
speaking
on
condition
of
anonymity,
confirmed
the
account
by
Coleman.
The
source
said
that
Sean
Hillen,
whom
the
newspaper
site
identifies
as
the
paper’s
editor
and
general
manager,
applied
for
the
job
of
executive
director
of
the
Fulbright
Commission,
an
embassy-appointed
post
in
Bucharest.
The
source
said
Hillen
served
on
the
Fulbright
board
at
the
time
he
applied
for
the
job,
and
embassy
officials
did
not
believe
it
was
appropriate
for
a
board
member
to
assume
the
post
of
executive
director.
“He
appears
to
have
waged
a
vendetta
...
