By Richard Powelson, Knoxville News Sentinel
September 25, 2006

The following article is reprinted with permission from the Knoxville News Sentinel September 17, 2006 edition.

A bit more than two years after becoming U.S. ambassador to Poland, former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe has compiled a longer list of pros and cons on the two jobs. For example, on Sept. 11, the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the United States, many Poles paid their respects outside the U.S. embassy in Warsaw by lighting candles, leaving bouquets of flowers and making speeches about the day that dramatically changed the world’s view of security. Ashe said the events were very emotional for him, and he went outside to thank a number of the visitors for their concern and support. He spoke in an interview last week in Washington, D.C., before White House and State Department meetings involving Poland’s new prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

At the major event of the day, Ashe and Warsaw’s mayor remembered the 9/11 tragedy and reaffirmed U.S.-Polish government efforts to continue the war on terror. He said he also likes being able to represent his country overseas to continue and improve the relationship between the United States and Poland. Poland, heavily dependent on Russia for natural gas and oil, wants U.S. expertise and political aid to broaden its energy supply options. Ashe’s office works with U.S. businesses on potential investment in Poland’s economy and has been dealing with Poles’ concerns that the U.S. government denies too many visa requests. The two countries have strong military ties: Poland has ordered 42 F-16 fighter jets from a U.S. company, Lockheed Martin, that uses engines from a production plant in Poland. Poland also has kept troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to assist the U.S. and allies’ efforts to improve security and government stability.

Heading the U.S. embassy in Poland also means that he and his office are much in demand as a liaison with local residents and U.S. visitors. The embassy since his arrival about two years ago has entertained about 14,000 people and had more than 200 overnight guests. Among the visitors have been Vice President Dick Cheney, U.S. secretaries of the Treasury, Commerce and Agriculture, the attorney general, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, two U.S. senators and other celebrities. He also has visited all 16 of Poland’s provinces and more than 100 of its cities and their mayors. “The range of issues and the range of personalities in people that I get to come into regular contact with is fascinating,” he said. “Like any job, it can be frustrating at times, but it is never dull.” In 16 years as Knoxville’s mayor, ending in December 2003, Ashe liked setting goals and being around to see a project completed - things like building a new convention center, setting aside a greenway area or planning changes in the waterfront. But as the U.S. representative in Poland, he doesn’t get to set the Bush administration’s agenda. One was under way when he moved to Poland in the summer of 2004; he is helping to work on it but acknowledges some goals will require ongoing efforts by ambassadors following him. “You’re not able to look back very often and say, ‘Well, I solved that issue.’ “

He has been able to help reduce the rejection rate on Polish visas to enter the U.S., but Congress will have to approve any major changes in processing, he said. As to his detailed life plans, Ashe, 61, is noncommittal. He could stay on at the embassy through the rest of Bush’s term into the end of 2008 if Bush chooses that long-time plan. Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president. Or he could leave his post earlier and move back to Knoxville and consider yet another career.

Richard Powelson, the News Sentinel’s bureau chief in Washington, D.C., may be contacted at 202-408-2727 or PowelsonR@shns.com