White House's Card Denies Treasury Rumor (replacing Secretary John Snow)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/07/national/w144748S94.DTL

White House's Card Denies Treasury Rumor


It's been such a persistent rumor in Washington that many had begun to accept it as fact. But White House chief of staff Andy Card said Wednesday it's not true that he is heading to the Treasury Department to take over from Secretary John Snow.


"It is not going to happen," Card said in a chat with reporters in a White House hallway. But he didn't rule out the possibility of a move to some other job.


"I serve at the pleasure of (the president) for the time being and am very comfortable with that insecurity," he said. "I'd be ready, willing and able to change but not planning to go to the Treasury Department."


Speculation about Snow's departure has persisted for more than a year, even after the White House made a very public show last December of President Bush's request that Snow remain on the job amid a Cabinet shake-up. Unlike his predecessor, Paul O'Neill, who was fired after earning White House ire for his blunt talking style and for at times being at odds with administration economic policy, Snow has been a loyal soldier and enthusiastic pitchman since he took over as Treasury chief in February 2003.