By JEANNINE AVERSA AP Economics Writer
Trying to put a controversy behind it, the Bush administration was wasting no time finding a successor to World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, who will resign over his handling of a pay package for his girlfriend.
Wolfowitz on Thursday announced that he would step down at the end of June, his leadership undermined by a furor over the compensation he arranged in 2005 for Shaha Riza, a bank employee.
His departure ends a two-year run at the development bank that was marked by controversy from the start, given his previous role as a major architect of the Iraq war when he served as the No. 2 official at the Pentagon.
It also ends a potential political headache for President Bush, who had named Wolfowitz to the post.
The Wolfowitz flap had been seen as a growing liability that threatened to tarnish the poverty-fighting institution's reputation and hobble its ability to persuade countries around the world to contribute billions of dollars to provide financial assistance to poor nations.
The bank "needs to rebuild it credibility immediately, regain its focus and devote its full attention to its clients," said the bank's staff association, which, along with former bank officials, aid groups and some Democratic politicians, had wanted Wolfowitz to resign.
The White House said it would move quickly to name a new candidate to run the bank.
Bush "will have a candidate to announce soon, allowing for an orderly transition that will have the World Bank refocused on its mission," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
Bush's selection must be approved by the World Bank's board.
Among those mentioned as a possible replacement for Wolfowitz were former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who was Bush's former trade chief; Robert Kimmitt, the No. 2 at the Treasury Department; Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson; former Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa; Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Stanley Fischer, who once worked at the International Monetary Fund and is now with the Bank of Israel.