Washington Blade - November 28, 2003
Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Bush administration sources said this week that Christopher Bates, acting director of the HHS Office of HIV/AIDS Policy, and Carol Thompson, a former member of the White House Domestic Policy Council, began conducting duties at the White House AIDS office more than a month ago on an "unofficial" basis.

The White House is expected to formally announce in January the appointment of Thompson as deputy director and Bates as director, according to two sources familiar with the administration.

President Clinton created the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, or ONAP, after AIDS activists and members of Congress urged him to create a centralized AIDS policy clearinghouse at the White House. The head of the office has been dubbed as the nation's AIDS czar.

Thompson most recently has served as deputy director of ONAP while Joseph O'Neill, a gay physician, served as director of the office. This past August, Bush named O'Neill as deputy coordinator of the newly created Office of Global AIDS Coordinator at the State Department. The global AIDS office is charged with carrying out the president's $15 billion global AIDS initiative, which is to help countries in Africa and the Caribbean cope with AIDS and other diseases.

Bates, a longtime D.C. resident, has worked in different positions at HHS for the past five years. He served as O'Neill's deputy when O'Neill held the position of director of the HHS HIV/AIDS Policy Office. Bates replaced O'Neill in the HHS post after Bush named O'Neill as director of the White House AIDS office.

Cheryl Robinson, a member of the staff of the White House AIDS office, said Bates has remained in his HHS office while performing White House AIDS office duties in recent weeks. She said Bates was expected to move to the White House complex in January, after the AIDS office moves to another location.

It is currently located in a townhouse office on Jackson Place next to Lafayette Park. Robinson said the AIDS office would most likely move to the Old Executive Office Building, which is located next to the White House.

Bates declined to comment on his new post, saying he could not discuss his status with the administration until an official announcement is made.

AIDS activists happy with selections

Marsha Martin, executive director of AIDS Action, one of the nation's largest AIDS advocacy groups, said AIDS Action and other national AIDS organizations have already interacted with Thompson and Bates in their capacities at the AIDS office.

"They are covering all of the bases that need covering," Martin said of Thompson and Bates.

"I've worked with Carol Thompson when she was Joe O'Neill's deputy," Martin said. "She has always listened to our concerns and has been responsive."

Martin called Bates highly knowledgeable in the field of AIDS policy.

"He comes from the community," she said. "He is linked to a very large gay and lesbian and people of color network" that would prove helpful to both the Bush administration and the AIDS community, Martin said.

Gay Republican activist Abner Mason, a Bush appointee on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, said he, too, has worked with both Thompson and Bates in his role as a PACHA member.

"They are very good quality, talented and smart people," Mason said. If the White House makes the positions at the AIDS office official in January, as expected, Mason said, Thompson and Bates would become "a tremendous team."

Mark Mead, a spokesperson for the national gay group Log Cabin Republicans, said LCR has full confidence in the president's AIDS policies, including his selection of people to head the White House AIDS office.

"We have worked with Carole and Chris in the past, and we feel they are very good," Mead said. "It's a positive development if, in fact, these appointments will take place."

A White House press spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment on the Thompson and Bates appointments by press time.

PACHA meeting delayed

In a related development, a PACHA meeting expected to be held in Washington this fall has been postponed until March. One source familiar with PACHA, speaking on condition of anonymity, said administration officials postponed the meeting because White House and HHS officials can't agree on who Bush should appoint to replace several PACHA members whose terms are expiring.

Similar to past disputes over AIDS policy, the source said, one administration faction favors appointing conservative ideologues that would push an agenda of abstinence-only until marriage on the advisory panel. The other faction reportedly favors appointing moderates, including one or more gay people, to serve on PACHA.

Mason and Brent Minor, another gay PACHA member, said they were not aware of such a dispute, saying the administration doesn't consult PACHA members about the appointment of other members.

"They keep that pretty close to their vest," Mason said.

Mason and Minor, who chair PACHA committees, said their respective committees are planning to meet in Washington before the full PACHA meeting in March. Mason said his international AIDS issues committee is set to meet Dec. 18. Minor said his treatment and care committee would meet in January. Under PACHA rules, committee meetings are closed to the public and press, the two said.

Although all official decisions and actions by PACHA must be taken at full PACHA meetings, which must be open to the public, some AIDS activists have criticized PACHA for closing the committee meetings. Critics say the closed meetings violate the spirit if not the letter of a federal law that requires all federal advisory committees to conduct business in open meetings.

Mason and Minor said government attorneys advised PACHA that holding closed committee meetings doesn't violate that law, known as the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

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