Angelenos tapped for diplomacy

28 April 2009 |permalink | email article

Two wealthy Los Angeles businessmen who initially supported Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign are in line for significant ambassadorial posts in the Obama administration, a well-placed source has told The Body Politic.

Stewart A. Resnick, chairman and owner of Roll International Corporation, a Los Angeles-based holding company, and a major Democratic donor to Clinton, is in place to become ambassador to France. He and his wife, Lynda Rae Resnick, are two of the nation’s top art collectors.

Marc Nathanson, a retired cable-television executive who served a chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors from 1998 to 2002, is set to be named ambassador to the Czech Republic. He raised about $250,000 for Clinton’s campaign but switched last summer after both he and his wife, Jane, met with Obama at a Los Angeles fundraiser.

The ambassadorships suggest that Clinton, as Secretary of State, is already exercising considerable diplomatic clout.

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