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January 21, 2010
Obama Appointee Erroll Southers Withdraws ~ Thank You Jim DeMint!!!!
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He was supposed to lead the Transportation Security Administration, but today, he’s withdrawn because “his nomination had become a lightning rod for those with a political agenda.”
He stated, “It is unfortunate that we are residing in such contentious political times, that exceptional, ‘apolitical’ candidates have to seriously consider their willingness to participate in public service.”
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TSA nominee withdraws amid 'political agenda'
By JULIE PACE
Wednesday, January 20, 2010; 1:52 PM
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama's choice to lead the Transportation Security Administration withdrew his name Wednesday, a setback for an administration still trying to explain how a man could attempt to blow up a commercial airliner on Christmas Day.
Erroll Southers said he was pulling out because his nomination had become a lightning rod for those with a political agenda. Obama had tapped Southers, a top official with the Los Angeles Airport Police Department, to lead the TSA in September but his confirmation has been blocked by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who says he was worried that Southers would allow TSA employees to have collective bargaining rights.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Southers said the confirmation process made him question his willingness to participate in public service.
"I am not a politician. I'm a counterrrorism expert," Southers said Wednesday. "They took an apolitical person and politicized my career."
Southers said he couldn't give DeMint a definitive answer on the collective bargaining issue because it wasn't a yes or no question, and required access to information he wouldn't have had until he was confirmed.
DeMint said in a statement that answering simple, direct questions about security and integrity appeared to have been too much for Southers. He said he hoped Obama would select a new nominee quickly.
Questions have also been raised about a reprimand that Southers received for running background checks on his then-estranged wife's boyfriend two decades ago. Southers, a former FBI agent, wrote a letter to lawmakers earlier this month acknowledging that he had given inconsistent answers to Congress on that issue.
The White House said Wednesday that the Obama had accepted Southers' withdrawal with great sadness and continued to believe he would have made an excellent TSA administrator.
The withdrawal of Southers' nomination was another setback for the TSA at a time when the government is still trying to answer questions from Congress about how a man was able to carry out a bombing attempt on Christmas Day on a Northwest Airlines flight found from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Democrats had lined up behind Southers' nomination after the December incident, with Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., saying he would call for a full Senate vote on his confirmation this year.
The administration has been beset by problems with intelligence and security nominees. It took Obama eight months to nominate people to lead TSA and Customs and Border Protection - two key security agencies that play large roles in preventing another terrorist attack like the attempted Christmas bombing that shook the nation and the governmental establishment.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Great news!
Brown wins and then this clown removes his name from nomination. Tra-la -la -la
God bless Jim DeMint!!! Jim DeMint stopped this guy almost single handedly.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at January 21, 2010 05:47 AM
Comments
And the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and ....thump!
Good news!!
Posted by: yankeemom at January 21, 2010 08:33 AM
Souther mentioned White supremist groups but failed to say anything about muslims. Guess he doesn't know who has committed the most terrorist acts.
Posted by: TomR at January 21, 2010 12:33 PM
Yankeemom, hahaa LOVE the " thump" oh yessss
Posted by: Wild Thing at January 21, 2010 05:43 PM
Tom, good one, yesss and we sure don't need that.
We have so much of it already by elected officials.
Posted by: Wild Thing at January 21, 2010 05:45 PM
Souther has the Napoitano mindset, stuck in first on the White Supremacist groups. Another one with the IQ of a Knat and an attention span to match. Senator Demint smelled a rat and made the right choice.
Posted by: Mark at January 21, 2010 07:23 PM
