Republican Sen. Judd Gregg withdrew his nomination: commerce secretary

[LuvBigRip]

Republican Sen. Judd Gregg withdrew his nomination to become President Obama's commerce secretary on Thursday, citing "irresolvable conflicts" over issues like the economic stimulus package and the Census.

In doing so, the New Hampshire senator became the first Cabinet-level nominee to withdraw his name in protest.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew his name for commerce secretary in January amid an ethics investigation in his state. And Tom Daschle withdrew his name for health and human services secretary over criticism about his failure to pay taxes on unreported income.

Gregg, in a written statement, said he's withdrawing his name because his and Obama's policy views are too different.

"It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me," he said.

"Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy," he said. "Obviously the President requires a team that is fully supportive of all his initiatives."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/12/gregg-withdraws-nomination-commerce-secretary/

[gmyers]

I don't like that about the way they're going to do the census either.

[SurferGirl]

I guess Obama wants the whole country to bow down to him.
I still say he only won because of the Chicago style corruption and I'll never recognise him as president.

[anothersta]

I'm glad backed out. He was just going to be a pawn anyway. Glad he realized that before it was too late.

[gmyers]

On mail.com the look on Obama's face was priceless. Talk about if looks could kill when Judd Gregg was making his withdrawal speech. Talk about looking angry Obama sure did.

[anothersta]

On mail.com the look on Obama's face was priceless. Talk about if looks could kill when Judd Gregg was making his withdrawal speech. Talk about looking angry Obama sure did.

BHO always looks angry, even when he's smiling. If you look at his eyes, I see anger all of the time. Just like Jesse Jackson, angry

[Jolie Rouge]

Judd Gregg withdraws nomination; statement added


Reasons cited were Gregg’s unhappiness with the stimulus and the Census Bureau power grab by the White House.

Here’s the statement:


Senator Gregg Statement on His Withdrawal for Consideration of U.S. Commerce Secretary

Sen. Gregg stated, “I want to thank the President for nominating me to serve in his Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. This was a great honor, and I had felt that I could bring some views and ideas that would assist him in governing during this difficult time. I especially admire his willingness to reach across the aisle.

“However, it has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.

“Obviously the President requires a team that is fully supportive of all his initiatives.

“I greatly admire President Obama and know our country will benefit from his leadership, but at this time I must withdraw my name from consideration for this position.

“As we move forward, I expect there will be many issues and initiatives where I can and will work to assure the success of the President’s proposals. This will certainly be a goal of mine.

“Kathy and I also want to specifically thank Governor Lynch and Bonnie Newman for their friendship and assistance during this period. In addition we wish to thank all the people, especially in New Hampshire, who have been so kind and generous in their supportive comments.

“As a further matter of clarification, nothing about the vetting process played any role in this decision. I will continue to represent the people of New Hampshire in the United States Senate.”


Meantime, President Obama is on the TV right now praising Transportation Secy nominee Ray LaHood as a “Republican he loves.”

***

Gregg deserves praise for standing on principle, but I wouldn’t get carried away and promote him for a presidential run. Remember: He supported TARP I and the release of its second tranche. Many believe his withdrawal was an act of courage. But what choice did he have but to resign in the wake of public humiliation over the Census power grab?

---


http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm

http://www.pollingreport.com/obama_job.htm

The trend is not good for the dems or obama

[krisharry]

Another one bites the dust!

[Jolie Rouge]

Why Gregg Bailed
Byron York Chief political correspondent
2/13/09

When he took the job, Republicans searched for a diplomatic way to ask: Are you crazy?

After 16 years as a Republican senator from New Hampshire, Judd Gregg has a lot of friends among GOP lawmakers, and in the past two weeks, many of them -- perhaps most of them -- have been wondering why he chose to accept Barack Obama's offer to become Commerce Secretary. Their objections intensified in the last week, as Republicans grew more worried about the Obama administration's plan to move control of the politically-sensitive 2010 Census from the Commerce Department to the White House. For Gregg himself, concerns about having the Census taken away from Commerce dovetailed with more general fears that a Democratic White House would restrict his freedom to run the Department. Finally, on Thursday afternoon, Gregg formally withdrew.


"I think he had buyer's remorse," one GOP senator told me. "After he looked into it more, he said, 'Whoa, this was a mistake.'"

"He's been getting Republicans walking up to him saying, 'Are you going to let the White House circumvent you, are you going to let them do this to you?'" one GOP aide who is aware of those conversations told me Thursday night. "This was a natural conflict that was going to arise, and on a personal level, politics aside, people were saying 'Hey, are you sure you want to do this?'"

The answer was no. "I've been my own person for 30 years," Gregg told reporters late Thursday. "I've been a governor and I've been a congressman. I've been a senator, made my own decisions, stood for what I believe in." As he explained himself, Gregg made clear that, as a member of the Obama cabinet, he would have been called on to take actions that violated his principles. "I have a core set of political and philosophical beliefs," Gregg said. "In the context of what was going on this week, and in the context of what I saw coming…it would be virtually impossible for me to do this job."

And what was going on this week? In a written statement released before his news conference, Gregg explained that "on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me." A short time later, in front of the press, Gregg played down both issues, but a number of observers believed his original statement was the more accurate. On the stimulus, his decision to stay out of the debate had put him in an awkward position; as a longtime fiscal conservative, he couldn't vote his conscience, because it would conflict with the president who offered him a place in the cabinet, and as the Commerce Secretary-designate, he couldn't vote with the president, because it would violate his conscience. So he chose not to vote at all. On the Census, Gregg told reporters that it "was not a major issue," but he appeared to protest too much when he said the Census "wasn't a big enough issue for me to even discuss what the issue was." If that were the case, then why did he specifically mention it in his written statement?

At the very least, the Census issue would have made for a very uncomfortable confirmation hearing. Gregg's fellow Republicans on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee would certainly have asked him what he thought of a plan that would move control of the Census from professionals in the Commerce Department to Rahm Emanuel, the hyper-partisan White House chief of staff. What would Gregg have said? It was the stimulus problem all over again; Gregg couldn't have said what he believed, but he probably couldn't have brought himself to support the president, either.

So now Gregg is out. His fellow Republicans are delighted to have him back; it's likely his informal role in the party's leadership will not be affected by his flirtation with the Obama cabinet. For its part, the White House is back to the beginning in its snakebit search for a Commerce Secretary. And the Census issue is likely to intensify, with Republican senators Susan Collins and Kay Bailey Hutchison now exploring the question, joining several members of the House who were first to express concern. The Gregg nomination is dead, but the Census controversy might just be coming to life.

http://www.dcexaminer.com/politics/Why-Gregg-Bailed-39537782.html

[Jolie Rouge]

ABC, CBS and NBC centered their Thursday night stories, on Senator Judd Gregg's decision to withdraw as Commerce Secretary-nominee, around his disagreement with the Obama administration's “stimulus” plan -- with only passing mention, if any, of the administration's wish to move the 2010 census count from Commerce to the White House.

CNN's Jessica Yellin reported at the top of the 6 PM EST Situation Room that “sources close to Senator Gregg say the bigger issue for him was the White House's effort to take control of the census,” yet that politicalization of the census wasn't mentioned at all in a full CBS Evening News story from Chip Reid, who found time to relay how “a top Democratic source on Capitol Hill was more blunt, saying Gregg actively campaigned for the job, then 'erratically dropped out without warning,'” nor in a Katie Couric-Bob Schieffer discussion.

On ABC's World News, George Stephanopoulos offered a clause about the census, but couched as merely a GOP allegation: “Since the nomination became public there were two public issues over who would administer the census -- that was getting politicized according to Republican officials -- and also over the stimulus bill.”

Only after a full story on Gregg and Obama campaigning in Illinois for the “stimulus” bill did NBC's Chuck Todd get to the census issue:


There actually might have been a raw political reason and that was the fact that the White House was going to take control of the census away from the Commerce Department and into their own hands. And that had become sort of a mini firestorm, both on the right and the left, and at the end of the day, with the White House and Rahm Emanuel wanting control of that census, that was yet another reason why Judd Gregg decided he didn't want the job.

A February 10 NewsBusters item by Rich Noyes, “Networks Silent on White House Grab of 2010 Census,” recounted:


The Obama administration's decision to have the White House supervise the 2010 Census -- a response to left-wing complaints that the Census was too important to leave under the authority of Republican Judd Gregg, the nominee for Commerce Secretary -- has thus (as of Tuesday morning) far drawn absolutely no attention from the three broadcast networks, with not a single mention on the ABC, CBS or NBC morning or evening newscasts.

This would undoubtedly be a huge story if the White House were still in Republican hands and it was the GOP that was attempting to take over the Census. As the Wall Street Journal's John Fund reported on Tuesday: "'There's only one reason to have that high level of White House involvement,' a career professional at the Census Bureau tells me. 'And it's called politics, not science.'"

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2009/02/12/gregg-stories-short-shrift-white-houses-census-grab