Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990 TAG: 9004041116
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The Senate approved President Bush's choice to head the Office of Thrift Supervision 62-37.
Seventeen Democrats joined GOP senators in backing the nominee. All the opposing votes came from Democrats. Republican John Warner and Democrat Charles Robb of Virginia both supported Ryan.
Minority Leader Robert J. Dole, R-Kan., warned "the savings and loan disaster is probably going to be an issue in the 1992 elections," and Republicans will be blamed if regulators do not move quickly.
The vote, just a week after Ryan was nominated, had been put on a fast track to head off a potential crisis after a court ruled the previous heads of OTS were appointed illegally. The ruling that they should have been subject to Senate confirmation is under review by an appellate court. Many senators cited the need to confirm a new director quickly as their prime reason for approving Ryan.
Ryan told the Senate Banking Committee last week that his first act would be to ratify his predecessors' federal takeovers of failed thrifts, to give those decisions legal standing.
Senators briefly raised the issue of Ryan's admitted use of marijuana and his experimentation with cocaine "once or twice" while he was a student 17 years ago. Warner, a strong supporter of Ryan, said that in a meeting Wednesday morning, the nominee clarified that he used cocaine only on one evening but was uncertain if he had used the drug once or twice on that occasion.
by CNB