Who's who.

• Author: Threadgill, Susan

It took new Treasury Secretary John Snow little time to start complaining about the media. Why? Because his golfing prowess had been misreported. He used his Senate nomination hearing to "correct the record in a very major wax" refuting reports by The Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman that he was a scratch golfer. It's not because Snow doesn't get to practice--he belongs to at least 18 country clubs. Before his confirmation, Snow did resign from one club--Augusta National, home of the Masters golf tournament and controversial chairman Hootie Johnson, who continues to fight activist Martha Burk's push to force the club to accept a female member.

Of course, most folks on the Hill were probably less interested in hearing about Snow's golf prowess and more concerned about how he managed to get sued for defaulting on his child support obligations. And the White House dumped Paul O'Neill because of his bad press?

In the newly minted Republican--controlled Senate, it took Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) little time to get moving on George W. Bush's judicial selections, infuriating Senate Democrats by packing three controversial nominees into a single day's hearing. Led by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Chuck Schumer (D-NE), the Democrats complained bitterly of having only one day to question U.S. Court of Appeals nominees Deborah Cook. John Roberts, and Jeffrey Sutton. Hatch insisted the nominees weren't controversial. Shot back Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.): "I don't think it's in the eyes of the chairman to determine whether they're controversial or not. That's sort of our job." Dems focused most of their questions on Sutton, who has infuriated many in the disabled community because in 2001, he argued (successfully) to the Supreme Court that the Americans With Disabilities Act didn't apply to state employers. Sutton and Cook are being nominated for the 6th Circuit--the very court Republicans stonewalled on during Bill Clinton's administration. Under Republican Senate rule from 1997 to 2001, none of Clinton's nominees for the current 6th Circuit vacancies received a hearing. Expect more fireworks soon. Said Kennedy of Hatch's packing tactic: "I resent it, and I find that it's not a particularly good way to expect that we are going to have wide cooperation." Given just a day with the nominees, Democrats dragged the heating well into the evening, questioning them for 12 hours.

Speaking of the Judiciary...