Obama’s TSA Nominee, Erroll Southers, Withdraws

Uhm, of course the DemonRats are going to blame those “Racist Republicans” for this, but did you really want a guy in charge of TSA who thinks that the reason why terrorists don’t like us is because of our “connectivity” with Israel and France?

Embattled TSA nominee Southers withdraws
By Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Ed O’Keefe
Washington Post
Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Obama administration’s choice to lead the struggling Transportation Security Administration withdrew his name from consideration Wednesday, just weeks after revelations that he had provided misleading information to Congress prompted several Republicans to suggest his nomination would not move forward without a fight.

Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent and homeland security specialist, was presented as a leader who would improve the TSA’s sprawling operations and improve passenger screening to prevent such attacks as the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner.

But GOP opposition to Southers escalated rapidly after The Washington Post reported that Southers had given Congress and the White House misleading information about incidents two decades ago in which he inappropriately accessed a federal database to obtain information about his estranged wife’s new boyfriend, possibly in violation of privacy laws.

In a statement released by the White House, Southers blamed congressional critics motivated by “political ideology” for the troubles that overshadowed his nomination.

“It is apparent that this path has been obstructed by political ideology,” he said. “My nomination has become a lightning rod for those who have chosen to push a political agenda at the risk of the safety and security of the American people. This partisan climate is unacceptable and I refuse to allow myself to remain part of their dialogue.”

The withdrawal comes at a difficult time for the White House. The TSA has been leaderless for months and further delay was likely, as the Senate prepared for a procedural fight over holds placed on his nomination.

Two weeks ago, seven Republican senators, including John McCain (Ariz.), Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) and Tom Coburn (Okla.), had demanded the White House provide more information about why Southers initially gave Congress an incorrect account about the long-ago searches, which led to his censure by the FBI. Their criticism followed on a hold on the nomination placed by Sen. Jim DeMint, who said he was concerned Southers would support the unionization of TSA workers.

[...]

The discrepancies in Southers’ statements to Congress and the White House focused on incidents in 1987 and 1988 in which he inappropriately accessed a federal database. In an Oct. 22 affidavit provided to the Senate homeland security committee, Southers said he asked a San Diego police officer to access the records. In November, after the committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), received a briefing about the censure letter and noticed discrepancies in Southers’s account, she asked him to explain the episode.

In a Nov. 20 letter, a day after the committee endorsed his nomination, Southers acknowledged that his first account was incorrect. He said that after reviewing documents, he realized he had twice personally conducted the database searches.

Southers wrote that he was “distressed by the inconsistencies between my recollection and the contemporaneous documents,” and he assured the committee that “the mistake was inadvertent” and that he had accepted responsibility for what he acknowledged was a grave error in judgment many years ago.

In a statement two weeks ago, a White House spokesman said officials did not know of the discrepancies in Southers’s account until November, well into the nomination process.

“The important mission of the TSA will require a focused and determined leader,” Collins said Wednesday. “It is critically important that the White House act quickly to nominate someone with qualifications and reputation which are beyond reproach to lead this agency.”

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