[stop-imf] Wolfowitz Drops World Bank Run; Fiorina Gets Look

[Robert Weissman]

Wolfowitz Drops World Bank Run; Fiorina Gets Look

By GREG HITT, PUI-WING TAM and GREG JAFFE
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 2, 2005; Page A4

WASHINGTON =96 Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz pulled out of
contention for World Bank president, as White House attention turned to
former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Carly Fiorina as a potential
candidate to lead the multilateral institution.

Officials described the focus on Ms. Fiorina as in the early stages, but
reflecting a growing effort to find a successor to James D. Wolfensohn,
the current bank president. Mr. Wolfensohn will step down in May after
completing his second five-year term in the post. A spokeswoman for Ms.
Fiorina declined to comment.

Ms. Fiorina has long had an interest in a political career or
appointment, say people familiar with her thinking. She is a Republican
and has met with Bush-administration officials to promote technology
issues. The former executive was part of California governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger's transition team, and also did some analysis for him on
California's economic competitiveness.

In the past, Ms. Fiorina has dodged questions about her political
aspirations. "I never think about the next job," she said in 2003 when
asked about her ambitions. But those questions are back on the table now
that Ms. Fiorina, who is 50 years old, has been ousted from her position
as CEO and chairman of H-P. Ms. Fiorina was fired by H-P's board after
disagreeing with them over how the technology company should be
structured and for failing to meet performance targets that she had set
for the company following its $19 billion acquisition of Compaq Computer
Corp. in 2002.

Pentagon officials said Mr. Wolfowitz, who has been involved in the Bush
administration's Iraq policy as well as the push to modernize the
military, has no plans to leave the Pentagon. "As we have said before,
Secretary Wolfowitz has been asked to stay on in an extremely important
job, one that he likes doing very much," said Larry Di Rita, the
Pentagon spokesman, in a statement.

The Pentagon has previously ruled out Mr. Wolfowitz's departure for
other potential postings within the administration, but until yesterday
hadn't definitively commented on whether he would move over to the World
Bank.

Pentagon officials close to Mr. Wolfowitz say he remains engaged in the
Bush administration's efforts to build a stable democracy in Iraq. Mr.
Wolfowitz is also at the center of a major review of the Pentagon's
war-fighting strategy and weapons programs, which is conducted every
four years and is set to wrap up in January 2006.

Write to Greg Hitt at greg.hitt@wsj.com, Pui-Wing Tam at
pui-wing.tam@wsj.com and Greg Jaffe at greg.jaffe@wsj.com