Who's who.

• Author: Threadgill, Susan
• Position: Politics, politicians and the environment - Brief Article

In January, Martin Peretz, owner of The New Republic, sold a majority stake in the venerable weekly to financiers Michael Steinhardt and Roger Hertog. Hertog, vice chairman of Alliance Capital Management, is currently in hot water for Alliance's handling of Florida's state pension fund, which lost $335 million during Enron's collapse, prompting racketeering subpoenas from Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth. But Hertog's position as chairman of the conservative Manhattan Institute may prove more troublesome to the Democratic-leaning magazine. Hertog is a member of the staunchly conservative Club for Growth, a group of self-described "supply side Reaganites" run by TNR nemesis Stephen Moore. Though both new co-owners profess no desire to change the magazine's political coverage, at least Hertog seems to want to change the political landscape. Club for Growth recently launched a $500,000 television campaign to unseat Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.)--a sum large enough, in such a tiny media market, to "buy one of the smaller TV stations," says a Senate aide. The Hertog-Moore-TNR troika creates other interesting tensions, too. Moore's economic theories are routinely eviscerated by senior editor Jonathan Chait, who, like the rest of the staff, now works for Hertog.

Accused spy Wen Ho Lee may have gotten an apology from the FBI and big bucks from his new book, but that hasn't saved him from Larry Klayman, chairman of Judicial Watch, who represents Notra Trulock, the Department of Energy whistleblower who raised questions about security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and is now string Lee. After deposing Lee and his wife, Klayman posted the transcripts on his website. He's even managed to depose former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.

In addition, Klayman has filed four lawsuits against the Bush administration, seeking information on contacts between the Bushies and Enron officials. He has also filed a brief supporting the General Accounting Office's suit against Dick Cheney, issued press releases demanding Ari Fleischer's resignation for refusing to answer questions about Enron, and raised questions over allegations that Karl Rove urged Enron to hire former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed as a consultant. And we thought that when Bill Clinton left office ...

Interior Secretary Gale Norton is complaining that the slow pace at which Congress is confirming her appointees is hindering her ability to run the agency. Given...