Luxembourg Ambassadorship: Obama Donor Robert Mandell To Replace 'Horror Report' Cynthia Stroum

WASHINGTON -- President Obama has announced the nomination of the second U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg in as many years: Florida real estate developer and major Obama campaign contributor Robert A. Mandell.

Mandell is the CEO of both mall development company Greater Properties, Inc. and Meritage Homes of Central Florida, which has built more than 20 residential communities in Orlando, St. Cloud and Winter Garden. Meritage purchased Greater Homes, a company started by Mandell's father, in 2005. He has no diplomatic experience, but he is a member of the President's Export Council, a White House group organized to advise Obama on matters of international trade.

In 2008, he donated more than $30,000 to Obama's presidential campaign, most of it through the Committee for Change, an arm of the campaign that major donors used to help funnel funds to local campaign operations. Mandell also donated $50,000 to Obama's inauguration committee, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates since 1992.

Mandell will replace former ambassador Cynthia Stroum, a Seattle investor and Obama bundler who quit abruptly in February under intense criticism. A State Department report found that Stroum had caused embassy employees "acute stress," and "brought major elements of Embassy Luxembourg to a state of dysfunction.

The report also found "most employees describe the Ambassador as aggressive, bullying, hostile, and intimidating, which has resulted in an extremely difficult, unhappy and uncertain work environment."

The diplomatic blog Diplopundit awarded the Stroum report the dubious title of "Horror Report" of the year.

At the time, Stroud told reporters that she had disputed the findings.

Luxembourg is the world's last sovereign grand duchy, and boasts the highest GDP per capita, according to the IMF.

Mandell joins a long roster of Obama campaign donors who have been awarded plum European diplomatic posts, including Amb. Louis Susman (Great Britain), Amb. Dan Rooney (Ireland), Amb. Charles RIvkin (France), and Amb. Don Beyer (Switzerland).

Comments

[rcwells]

07:00 PM on 06/29/2011

This is a total non story. Luxemborg has NEVER had a real ambassador nor does it need one.

[brownfrown]

06:45 PM on 06/29/2011

4 of 5 bundlers that collected $500,000+ for the Obama 2008 campaign now have positions within the administration.

[brownfrown]

06:46 PM on 06/29/2011

4 out of every 5, I should have said.

[DickGranite]

06:29 PM on 06/29/2011

Well as we all know, ambassadorships have always been for sale but....I thought this was going to be a "different" President. Change you can believe in.....

[SPQR1775]

07:26 PM on 06/29/2011

AND DIFFERENT HE IS! LUX IS ALL IT IS LUX AND WE SEND PEOPLE WITH MONEY AND NOTHING TO GAIN TO LUX!

[DickGranite]

06:27 PM on 06/29/2011

Because diplomats and the cash it takes to keep them up is vital to the US taxpayer in Luxembourg of all places. Can't they just set up a teleconferencing screen for Chrissakes. The State Department needs some take down after we bring in some of the military bases from around the globe.

[Tim The Enchanter]

06:19 PM on 06/29/2011

Good to know. The word B R I B E is a moderated word.

[Tim The Enchanter]

06:18 PM on 06/29/2011

$30,000 invested

$150,000/year job return

Good investment.

[jefke]

06:18 PM on 06/29/2011

The first US ambassador who was a woman was Perle Mesta and her post was Luxembourg. A musical was created about this: Call Me Madam. The first Black American woman ambassador was Patricia Harris and her post was Luxembourg. When asked for her reaction to Ms. Harris' appointment Ms. Mesta earned her place in infamy by saying (this is an approximation - I don't remember the exact words, just the intent) "Mrs. Harris should do very well, the Luxembourgers just loved my black servants."

[Tim The Enchanter]

06:17 PM on 06/29/2011

Bribe Obama, get a job.

[mfrantom]

06:09 PM on 06/29/2011

If only I had a little extra cash I, too, could be an ambassador.

[ptrgamb]

05:44 PM on 06/29/2011

Luxembourg is a good cushy gig.

[Makos62]

05:42 PM on 06/29/2011

Wow, Stroud was asked to go to HR? Never good!

[StinkyMoBub]

05:40 PM on 06/29/2011

"He has no diplomatic experience"

Probably doesn't need any unless we're planning on bombing it...

[mykittywinks]

05:30 PM on 06/29/2011

Somebody needs to blow the cover off of European money corruption of the US election system someone need to go to prison others need to be expelled from the country.

[dsa1115]

05:17 PM on 06/29/2011

US Ambassadorships for sale. If you want to become a US Ambassador, all you need to do is write a big check to Obama's campaign. That is the biggest prerequisite.

[JPFL]

05:41 PM on 06/29/2011

You mean like it's always been.

[Spanky231]

06:00 PM on 06/29/2011

Bingo. No matter how much someone believes that there are differences in the parties, reality continually shows us they are all the same. Great post.

[blurredmolly]

06:12 PM on 06/29/2011

Spare me. That's the way it works for all of them. yeesh

[Krazzi]

05:12 PM on 06/29/2011

USA really needs to get the money out of politics. He said he wsn't gonna do things like this but what can he do with an election coming up that will cost more than 1 Bn bucks. Trash the Supreme Court ruling with REAL campaign finance reform.

That castle prolly full of Luxembabes