BY MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON — A Winston-Salem businessman and key campaign supporter of President Bush has been named the new ambassador to the Netherlands.

Jim Culbertson, a former computer executive who directed Bush’s fundraising efforts in North Carolina in 2004, was nominated by Bush at the beginning of the month and confirmed to the position by the Senate late Friday.
Culbertson could not be reached for comment. Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, and it’s quite possible that Culbertson will only have this position for a short time, regardless of who is elected president this November.

At a hearing this month, Culbertson told senators that his top priorities would include combating anti-American sentiment held by the country’s growing population of Muslim immigrants, and working to heal increasing tensions between Muslim immigrants and native-born Dutch.

“I think the prior ambassador has done a good job getting us off to a good outreach start. I certainly want to continue that dialogue with the leaders of the Muslim community,” he said.

“We can talk about our long struggle with civil rights in this country, as well as our immigration problems, and the ways we dealt with it and sometimes the ways we haven’t properly dealt with it,” he said.

Ambassadorships are traditionally given to long-serving Foreign Service professionals or key allies of the current president, such as Culbertson.

He was a key fundraiser for Bush in North Carolina in 2000 and was the chairman of his fundraising efforts in the state in 2004.

That year, Culbertson was a Bush fundraising “Ranger,” collecting more than $200,000 in contributions for the president, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign-finance watchdog group.

Over the last 10 years, Culbertson and his wife, Germaine, have given almost $35,000 to Republican candidates, according to data compiled by the group.

This election cycle, Culbertson was a top fundraiser for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who abandoned his White House bid after a poor showing in early primary states.

Culbertson was previously appointed by Bush to the American Battle Monuments Commission. Culbertson was the owner of Financial Computing Inc., which made software for banks and auto dealers, according to the commission’s Web site.

Culbertson’s nomination to the position followed the resignation of billionaire Roland Arnall. Arnall, a big financial backer of Bush and the billionaire founder of the subprime-mortgage company Ameriquest, stepped down in March, just a few weeks before he died of cancer.

A spokesperson for the State Department said she expected Culbertson to arrive in the Netherlands later in the summer.