WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd Tuesday accused auto industry executives of being "devoid of vision" and ridiculed them for their attitude toward fuel efficiency.

At the start of a hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Dodd, D-Conn., said no one "can say that they didn't see this coming."

Representatives of the Detroit automakers were on Capitol Hill, seeking help to avert bankruptcy.

"The companies have been struggling for years," noted Dodd, who chairs the panel. "They are hemorrhaging jobs; 450,000 have been lost in the last eight years alone.

"They are losing market share. For the first time the domestic auto share for Ford, Chrysler and GM has slipped below 50 percent, going from 66 percent in 2001 to just 47 percent today."

But, Dodd said, blame can be laid directly at the doors of those running the auto companies.

"Their boardrooms and executive suites in my view have been famously devoid of vision," Dodd said, adding they "derided hybrid vehicles as making, quote, 'no economic sense,' unquote. They have dismissed the threat of global warming, the role played by their products in creating it and the strong desire of the American people to do something to stop it."

Dodd said the automakers have "approached 21st century challenges with decidedly 20th century mindset, and we're all paying the price for it."

Dodd also had harsh words for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson for refusing to use funds provided in the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to help the auto industry. In his own testimony Tuesday, Paulson said Congress should instead amend legislation providing $25 billion to the auto industry for retooling to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles to allow the money to be used for other purposes.

Paulson cool to auto company help

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged Congress to modify already-passed legislation to help the auto companies rather than expect him to buy stock.

Under questioning from U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., during a hearing Tuesday of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Paulson declined to provide a yes or no answer to the question of whether he would buy preferred stock in the Big Three automakers as he did in the case of banks.

"Regarding autos, what we've said is Congress has acted. You have a bill that passed. I urge you to modify that," Paulson said, referring to legislation that was supposed to help automakers pay for retooling to produce more fuel-efficient cars.

Sherman argued, however, the $700 billion bailout bill is broad enough to allow Treasury to provide direct aid to automakers.

Reports: Eric Holder tabbed for AG

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Eric Holder Jr., formerly the No. 2 lawyer in the Justice Department under President Bill Clinton, has been selected for U.S. Attorney General, reports said.

Democratic sources told the Washington Post Tuesday Holder, a close confidant of President-elect Barack Obama, is Obama's top choice. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he would be the first African-American Attorney General of the United States.

National Public Radio said Holder was expected to be offered the top job but there has been no formal word from the Obama transition office that he will be nominated.

Holder, 57, has been a judge and a top federal prosecutor in Washington as a U.S. attorney and deputy attorney general, the Post said. Most recently he has been a partner in the law firm of Covington and Burling, and played an active role as an adviser in the Obama presidential campaign.

"I think that his appointment is one that both the law enforcement and the civil rights community can exhale, and says that someone that is fair and open will take the top law enforcement seat in Washington," activist and National Action Network President the Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement.

Holder served on Obama's vice presidential vetting committee, which selected Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., before the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Lieberman likely to keep chairmanship

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Ind-Conn., Tuesday avoided loss of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The Hill reports Senate Democrats voted 42-13 against severely punishing Lieberman for his support of Republican John McCain during the presidential campaign. The former Democrat instead will lose his chairmanship of a global warming subcommittee, part of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

After President-elect Barack Obama said he didn't hold a grudge against Lieberman, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada noted Lieberman votes with the party most of the time. Reid initially took a tougher stand on Lieberman's fate in the Senate Democratic leadership.

"Joe Lieberman votes with me a lot more than a lot of my senators," Reid told Politico. "He didn't support us on military stuff and he didn't support us on Iraq stuff. But you look at his record, it's pretty good."

Some other caucus members said they were unhappy with Lieberman's actions and the party's apparent response. Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, Ind-Vt., issued statements last week calling for Lieberman to be stripped of his chairmanship. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said Lieberman's behavior was "unacceptable."

Stevens won't seek presidential pardon

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Tuesday he has no plans to seek a presidential pardon for his recent federal conviction.

During a break at the Republican Senate Republican Conference meeting, Stevens, 85, answered, "No," when asked by reporters if he planned to seek pardon from President Bush before Bush leaves office, The Hill reported.

Stevens said he is hurt by efforts to oust him from the Republican party and denounced reporters for describing his recent trial as a "corruption" or "bribery" case.

"It was a simple matter of failing to disclose. Maybe some of the verbiage that you are using is not proper," Stevens said.

Stevens was convicted of hiding $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts from Veco Corp., a pipeline service and construction company based in Alaska.

Political appointees move to civil service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Several key political appointees are jockeying to secure more permanent civilian posts around Washington, a review of federal agencies indicates.

The transfer of political appointees into permanent civil service positions, called "burrowing," does two things: It creates job security for employees and it prevents, at least initially, President-elect Barack Obama from installing preferred appointees in key posts once he takes the oath of office in January, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The White House disputed the story. Spokeswoman Dana Perino said as a "matter of policy, the White House has not encouraged non-career appointees to seek career positions in order to further the president's policies.

"The White House doesn't play a role in that career hiring process. There's a very specific process that OPM had put forward, the Office of Personnel Management, that gives guidelines for people who are eligible to apply for career positions. Once they do that, they are handled on a case-by-case basis by OPM, and the review is conducted by career employees," Perino said.

The Interior Department's top lawyer moved six key deputies -- including two now-former political appointees involved in controversial decisions -- into senior civil service posts, the Post reported. Similar efforts were happening in other agencies, too, such as the departments of Labor and Housing and Urban Development and the Senior Executive Service.

Alex Bastani, a representative at the Labor Department for the American Federation of Government Employees, said his organization was upset at the burrowing.

"Everyone should have an opportunity to apply for these positions," Bastani told the Post. "And certainly career people who don't have partisan bent and have 10 or 15 years in their respective fields should have a shot at these positions."

Kerry Weems, acting chief of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said he discourages political staff from seeking career slots.

"It typically doesn't work out for either party," said Weems, a career employee who said he expects to leave when the Obama administration takes over.